Teleology

To the glossary index · ↑ Top of page

The structure of purpose. Not merely mechanical or chemical determination, but purposive positing. The purpose is the universal, which particularizes itself (means) and singularizes itself (execution).

Origin: Aristotle: four causes, among them the causa finalis (final cause). Kant: purpose in nature and in freedom. Hegel: teleology as the objective form preceding life.

In Hegel: Enz. §§204--212; Science of Logic, Vol. 2, Objectivity

Cross-references: Purpose, Means, Life, Objectivity, Mechanism, Chemism

Commentary on the Logic, Chapter 15

To the glossary index · ↑ Top of page