In his Physics, Aristotle examines the theories and ideas regarding nature of his
predecessors and then, based upon his own ideas, theories and experiments, argues against
what he believes are incorrect conclusions. One idea that Aristotle argues specifically
is teleology. Teleology is the idea that natural phenomena are determined not only by
mechanical causes but by an overall design or purpose in nature. In this essay, I will
examine what Aristotle's concept of teleology was and look at why he held this
conception.
First, let's talk about what we mean by teleology. Teleology is the study of ends,
purposes, and goals. The word comes from the Greek word telos which means "end" or
"purpose". In cultures which have a 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 thier ends or
purposes. That is, all events in history are future-directed.
Aristotle's thought is consistently teleological: everything is always changing and
moving, and has some aim, goal or purpose. To borrow from Newtonian physics, we might
say that everything has potential which may be actualized. An acorn is potentially and
oak tree for example. The process of change and motion which the acorn undertakes is
directed at realizing this potential. Aristotle believed that things in nature occur
because they serve a purpose. He maintains that organisms develop as they do because
they have a natural goal or telos in Greek. "Nature", writes Aristotle, is "a
'principle of motion and change' "(Physics, 200b1), where "motion" or "movement" (or
change as we discussed in our classroom) describes the "fulfillment of what exists
potentially, in so far as it exists potentially"(201a) in a thing.
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But is there any reason for saying nature has a goal? Why cannot the rain rain and the
sun shine, not because the sky is cloudy or clear but just by chance? Empedocles argued
for a theory of natural selection on the basis of chance. The survival of the fittest
means that those who happen to be more fit survive longer. The less fit perish.
Aristotle rejects any theory of evolution. Things either occur by chance or they occur
"always or for the most part, "which is the opposite of chance. You must admit that
things that occur "always or for the most part" occur either by chance, or not by chance.
If they occur not by chance, then they occur for a purpose. Let's take the example of
monsters. Monsters occur by chance because they are not among those things that are
always or for the most part. Man, on the other hand, survives because he is meant to
survive. To argue that he is a result of chance is to argue that he does not exist
always or for the most part, but only sometimes. This, of course, is absurd. Because
most things in nature seem to occur most of the time and exhibit a pattern of change
which can be broken up into the four causes, Aristotle argues that nature must have a
purpose. Order and conformity to type infer purpose.
Aristotle goes on in Book II to make his explanation of purpose in nature more clear by
relating natural purpose to artistic creation. In any process of human creation, there
is a definite end to be achieved. In order to achieve that end, the artist must complete
a series of steps to bring this end about. For example, if you want to build a house,
there are certain steps you have to go through in order to bring the house into being.
If those steps are not followed, you may very well end up with something that resembles
a house but is not a house. Natural processes imitate nature in the way art works come
into being. If the art if for an end, nature must even more be for an end. One has only
to look at the work of swallows, ants or bees, who have no conscious purpose, to realize
that they are nevertheless acting according to a purpose. Mutations are simply nature's
failures, the miscarriage of purpose. If all had gone well, the monster would have been
a man and that which resembles a house but is not a house would have been a house. When
nature fulfills her purpose, man begets man and nothing else. The natural end of
anything is to conform to its type, to become what it is designed to be.
In his zoological research Aristotle set forth his teleological view of nature based upon
his observations. To explain a phenomenon, Aristotle said that one must discover its
goal, to understand "that for the sake of which" the phenomenon in question existed. A
simple example of this kink of explanations is the duck's webbed feet. According to
Aristotle's reasoning, ducks have webbed feet for the sake of swimming which is an
activity that supports the goal of a duck's existence. That goal is to find food in
water so as to stay alive
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