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I am not referring to computers or to the electronic revolution as a whole, or to the end of dependence on script for knowledge, or to the way that dress has succeeded the mimeographing machine as a form of communication among the dissenting young. Let me repeat that, I am not referring to the way that dress has succeeded the mimeographing machine as a form of communication among the dissenting young. Margaret Mead "Cybernetics of cybernetics", as cited in: Heinz von Foerster " Ethics and Second-Order Cybernetics " Instead of accepting the Victorian myth of a struggle for existence in a blind and meaningless universe, one must, with Professor Lawrence Henderson , replace this with a picture of a partnership in mutual aid, in which the physical structure of matter itself, and the very distribution of the elements on the earth's crust, their quantity, their solubility, their specific gravity, their distribution and chemical combination, are life furthering and life-sustaining.

Even the most rigorous scientific description of the physical basis of life indicates it to be internally teleological. I have a precursor, and what a precursor! I hardly knew Spinoza: Our culture is teleological—it presumes purposive development and a conclusion. William Pfaff , Barbarian Sentiments - How The American Century Ends Maupertuis ' attempt to introduce teleology into mechanics was met with sharp rebuffs from several scientists Mixed into the debate were issues of priority, questions of natural philosophy and physics to do with measurement of motion, and fundamental questions concerning the ideological world view.

At the center of the discussion was the question of conditionality or causality of the phenomena of the material world, or their teleological predestination through the creator's wisdom. Euler entered the debate in support of Maupertuis. For example, in his "Dissertation on the principle of least action " Euler criticized the attacks of S. He also wrote that he himself "had conceived of this remarkable property Only after a great many trials did I arrive at the formula that in motions of that type assumes its least value.

Euler emphasized that "all of dynamics and hydrodynamics can with astonishing ease be developed by the single method of maxima and minima. Rumyantsev, 'Leonarhd Euler and the Variational Principles of Mechanics" as translated in Nikolai Nikolaevich Bogoli, Euler and Modern Science The atomists , unlike Socrates , Plato , and Aristotle , sought to explain the world without introducing the notion of purpose or final cause.

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I do not see how it could have been known in advance which of these two questions science ought to ask, or whether it ought to ask both. But experience has shown that the mechanistic question leads to scientific knowledge, while the teleological question does not.

Bertrand Russell , A History of Western Philosophy The atomists asked the mechanistic question, and gave a mechanistic answer.

Their successors, until the Renaissance, were more interested in the teleological question, and thus led science up a blind alley. In regard to both questions alike, there is a limitation which is often ignored, both in popular thought and in philosophy. Neither question can be asked intelligibly about reality, as a whole including God , but only about parts of it. The conception of purpose, therefore, is only applicable within reality, not to reality as a whole.

Bertrand Russell , A History of Western Philosophy Bacon not only despised the syllogism, but undervalued mathematics, presumably as insufficiently experimental. He was virulently hostile to Aristotle , but he thought very highly of Democritus , Although he did not deny that the course of nature exemplifies a Divine purpose, he objected to any admixture of teleological explanation in the actual investigation of phenomena; everything, he held, should be explained as following necessarily from efficient causes.

I call it "teleological evolution," evolution with a purpose. The idea of evolution by design, designing the future, anticipating the future. I think of the need for more wisdom in the world, to deal with the knowledge that we have. At one time we had wisdom, but little knowledge.

Now we have a great deal of knowledge, but do we have enough wisdom to deal with that knowledge? Jonas Salk , "Academy of Achievement interview" The first thing I would like to point out is that each of us have a different purpose that we have to serve in the evolutionary scheme of things. We are not all equally endowed to do everything.

When I speak about teleological evolution, I speak about the idea of "telos," purpose. Jonas Salk, "Academy of Achievement interview" I speak about universal evolution and teleological evolution, because I think the process of evolution reflects the wisdom of nature. I see the need for wisdom to become operative.

We need to try to put all of these things together in what I call an evolutionary philosophy of our time. Jonas Salk , "Academy of Achievement interview" Evolution disposes of teleology. Silver, The Ascent of Science Ch. The Molecular Battle" Clearly, teleology has much in common with the design hypothesis.

Both Aristotle and William Paley would say that the gods knew that they wanted you to see, so they designed eyes. The Molecular Battle" Teleology can, and has been, extended to suppose that man is designed not only so as to function biologically in a certain way but also to function ethically in a manner related to his biological nature. It is surprising how persistent this belief is. The Molecular Battle" Men do all things for an end, namely, for that which is useful to them, and which they seek.

Thus it comes to pass that they only look for a knowledge of the final causes of events, and when these are learned, they are content, as having no cause for further doubt. If they cannot learn such causes from external sources, they are compelled to turn to considering themselves, and reflecting what end would have induced them personally to bring about the given event, and thus they necessarily judge other natures by their own.

Baruch Spinoza , Ethics Tr. Elwes, Appendix to Part I. Time out of mind it has been by way of the "final cause," by the teleological concept of end, of purpose or of "design," in one of its many forms for its moods are many , that men have been chiefly wont to explain the phenomena of the living world; and it will be so while men have eyes to see and ears to hear withal.

With Galen , as with Aristotle , it was the physician's way; with John Ray , as with Aristotle, it was the naturalist's way; with Kant ,as with Aristotle, it was the philosopher's way. It was the old Hebrew way, and has its splendid setting in the story that God made "every plant of the field before it grew. D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson , On Growth and Form Darwin discarded once and for all the last vestiges of Aristotelian thought concerning the evolution of living beings. A teleological explanation would no longer do.

The evolution of life on Earth would no longer unfold according to a "grand design"; nor would it tend to a final cause. On the contrary, it developed at the whim of random mutations and was driven by natural selection. Trinh Xuan Thuan , Chaos and Harmony I would say that teleology is theology, and that God is not a "because," but rather an "in order to. He has a sense of the merit of serviceability or efficiency and of the demerit of futility, waste, or incapacity.

This aptitude or propensity may be called the instinct of workmanship. Thorstein Veblen , The Theory of the Leisure Class The scientific world picture does not include … things that have not been constructed, that are not understood as artefacts … Instead of the final cause one starts to speak about purpose, which nature itself does not have.

Only humans can set aims and achieve them by their activities if they know the laws of nature and set up various processes based on them and organise them purposively. Again, what is the relation of the Idea of the Good to other ends Ideas or to the special functions of things? Efficient causes Plato attributes at one time to Idea, at another to soul: Aristotle, therefore, while willing to admit that Plato made 'stammering' efforts in the direction of efficient and final causes, was perfectly justified in thinking that he had not 'fully worked them out'. James McLean Watson, Aristotle's Criticisms of Plato Before the age of adulteration it was held that behind each work there stood some conception of its perfect execution.

It was this that gave zest to labor and served to measure the degree of success. To the extent that the concept obtained, there was a teleology in work, since the laborer toiled not merely to win sustenance but to see this ideal embodied in his creation.

Pride in craftsmanship is well explained by saying that to labor is to pray, for conscientious effort to realize an ideal is a kind of fidelity. The craftsman of old time did not hurry, because the perfect takes no account of time and shoddy work is a reproach to character. But character itself is an expression of self-control, which does not come of taking the easiest way. Where character forbids self-indulgence, transcendence still hovers around.

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When utilitarianism becomes enthroned and the worker is taught that work is use and not worship, interest in quality begins to decline. It has succumbed to the same forces as have all other expressions of honor. Richard Weaver , Ideas Have Consequences The famous palaeolithic paintings found in caves such as that at Lascaux in the Dordogne have been interpreted as evidence that, at least implicitly people were operating 20, or more years ago with teleological intent in terms of past, present, and future.

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