Notes: Teleology (Definition bank)

Teleology is the study of ends, purposes, and goals (telos means "end" or "purpose"). In cultures which have an teleological world view, the ends of things are seen as providing the meaning for all that has happened or that occurs. If you think about history as a timeline with a beginning and end, in a teleological view of the world and of history, the meaning and value of all historical events derives from their ends or purposes, that is, all events in history are future-directed . Aristotle's thought is manifestly teleological; of the four "reasons" or "causes" (aitia ) for things, the most important reason is the "purpose" or "end" for which that thing was made or done. The Christian world view is fundamentally teleological; all of history is directed towards the completion of history at the end of time.
When history ends, then the meaning and value of human historical experience will be fulfilled. Modern European culture is overwhelmingly teleological in its experience of history, that is, we see history and experience as entirely future-directed. This, in part, is responsible for the proliferation of alternatives, for in a teleological world view, history has potentially an infinite number of options and alternatives, and this proliferation of alternatives is primarily responsible for the crisis of modernity.  http://wsu.edu/~dee/GLOSSARY/TELE.HTM


Philosophy of science, philosophy of social science, ancient greek philosophy To explain a property or behavior in terms of purpose (Greek telos). This sort of explanation was initiated by Socrates, and fully developed by Aristotle with his notion of final cause (Greek to hou heneka, for the sake of which a thing comes about). In medieval philosophy, teleological explanation presupposed a Divine and omniscient designer. Everything operates for a goal, and the goal is predetermined by God. Teleological explanation was vehemently criticized by early modern science and philosophy. However, Aristotle mainly applied his final-cause interpretation to living or organic things, and accounts for the function of each part of an organism by appeal to its contribution to the perfect state of the organism as a whole. This sort of teleological functionalism is still applicable in contemporary biology and social science, although some philosophers try to reduce such explanations to efficient causality.“The teleological form of explanation [is] an explanation in terms of reason rather than in terms of causes.”Ayer, The Concept of a Person and Other Essays  (Blackwell dictionary of Western Philosophy.)

http://www.blackwellreference.com/public/tocnode?id=g9781405106795_chunk_g978140510679521_ss1-11


http://www.kheper.net/topics/cosmology/teleology.html  (Offers discussions of several teleological shools of thought)

http://www.counterbalance.org/evolution/teleo-frame.html

http://www.counterbalance.org/evolution/nodesign-body.html

http://wsu.edu/~dee/GREECE/ARIST.HTM

http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/theistic-proofs/the-teleological-argument/

The Cosmological Argument


The cosmological argument is the argument from the existence of the world or universe to the existence of a being that brought it into and keeps it in existence. It comes in two forms, one modal (having to do with possibility and the other temporal (having to do with time).



The modal cosmological argument, the argument from contingency, suggests that because the universe might not have existed (i.e. is contingent), we need some explanation of why it does. Whereever there are two possibilities, it suggests, something must determine which of those possibilities is realised. As the universe is contingent, then, there must be some reason for its existence; it must have a cause. In fact, the only kind of being whose existence requires no explanation is a necessary being, a being that could not have failed to exist. The ultimate cause of everything must therefore be a necessary being, such as God.



The temporal kalam cosmological argument, begins by arguing that the past is finite. The idea that the universe has an infinite past stretching back in time into infinity is, the argument notes, both philosophically and scientifically problematic; all indications are that there is a point in time at which the universe began to exist. This beginning must either have been caused or uncaused. It cannot have been uncaused, though, for the idea of an uncaused event is absurd; nothing comes from nothing. The universe must therefore have been brought into existence by something outside it. The kalam argument thus confirms one element of Christianity, the doctrine of Creation.



The Teleological Argument

The teleological argument is the argument from the order in the world to the existence of a being that created it with a specific purpose in mind. The universe is a highly complex system. The scale of the universe alone is astounding, and the natural laws that govern it perplex scientists still after generations of study. It is also, however, a highly ordered system; it serves a purpose. The world provides exactly the right conditions for the development and sustenance of life, and life is a valuable thing. That this is so is remarkable; there are numerous ways in which the universe might have been different, and the vast majority of possible universes would not have supported life. To say that the universe is so ordered by chance is therefore unsatisfactory as an explanation of the appearance of design around us. It is far more plausible, and far more probable, that the universe is the way it is because it was created by God with life in mind.

http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/theistic-proofs/