Concept in Definition ABC

The term that we analyze comes from the Greek and is formed by the word telos, which means purpose, and the word logía, which means science or knowledge. So, this discipline It is one that deals with the ends of things and not with the causes that produce them.

The origin is in Greek philosophy, especially in the idea of ​​causality in Aristotle

For Anaxagoras the Nous is a intelligence that puts order in reality. This intelligence acts with a draft determined, that is, with a purpose. On the other hand, for Plato the concepts of idea and form must be understood in a teleological sense, since they represent models that serve specific purposes.

Aristotle analyzed the idea of ​​cause and in this sense he argued that there are four possible causes:

1) The material cause is one that indicates what matter something is made of.

2) The formal cause is the one that expresses the universal element of something.

Matter and form make up the internal causes of something, for example a living being. Every living being is made up of a series of material characteristics and forms that are common to all individuals of a species.

3) The efficient cause is one that allows the existence of something or the movement Of something. Thus, a human being with a matter and a form needs a previous cause to exist, in this case his parents.

4) The final cause refers to the objective or purpose of something. For Aristotle this cause was the first, since it is what determines the other causes already mentioned.

The efficient and final cause constitute the dimension external of something, since they are not found in one's own being but outside of it.

Aristotelian teleology set the course for science for centuries

Aristotle's philosophical approaches had a great impact on the whole of the knowledge of the ancient world and medieval. Until the revolution Copernican science as a whole was guided by the four Aristotelian causes. And among them, the final cause had a value singular, since it was understood that everything that exists is subject to an intrinsic purpose.

Renaissance science introduced a new focus in which it was no longer relevant to know the why of something but the why.

A very popular type of explanation

The idea that everything has a certain purpose is deeply ingrained in many people's mental schemes.

By believing that everything has a telos, we consider that what happens to us has a purpose or end. In this way, we interpret that the events that surround us and that affect us are the result of some intentionality of a teleological nature.

Fotolia photo: olenka758

Topics in Teleology