Teleology

Teleology (Greek, telos, “end”; logos, “discourse”), in philosophy, the science or doctrine that attempts to explain the universe in terms of ends or final causes. Teleology is based on the proposition that the universe has design and purpose. In Aristotelian philosophy, the explanation of, or justification for, a phenomenon or process is to be found not only in the immediate purpose or cause, but also in the “final cause”—the reason for which the phenomenon exists or was created. In Christian theology, teleology represents a basic argument for the existence of God, in that the order and efficiency of the natural world seem not to be accidental. If the world design is intelligent, an ultimate Designer must exist.

Teleologists oppose mechanistic interpretations of the universe that rely solely on organic development or natural causation. The powerful impact of the theories of evolution of Charles Darwin, which hold that species develop by natural selection, greatly reduced the influence of traditional teleological arguments. None the less, such arguments were still advanced by many during the upsurge of creationist sentiment in the early 1980s.