teleological
Directed toward ends
Teleological describes explanations or systems based on purpose or design rather than cause.
A teleological argument for God infers a designer from apparent order in nature.
Teleological ethics judges actions by their outcomes or goals rather than by rules.
The teleological view holds that eyes exist in order to see—explaining features by what they're for rather than how they arose.
Reason something exists
- aimPurpose or direction
- goalDesired end result
- intentionPlanned purpose for acting
- designPurposeful creative planning
function · meaning · rationale · calling · vocation · mission · destiny · fate
Divine origin doctrine
- providenceDivine protective care
- creatorOne who produces something
- theismBelief in deity
- watchmakerTimepiece crafter and repairer
Fitting to new conditions
- evolutionSpecies changing over generations
- functionPurpose or duty
- fitnessGood physical shape
- organismLiving biological entity
survival · reproduction · complexity · Darwinism · vestigial · homology · instinct · behavior
Greek founder of formal logic
- metaphysicsPhilosophy of existence's nature
- causationProduction of effects
- cosmologyStudy of universal structure
- AquinasScholastic philosopher-theologian surname
Leibniz · Plato · essentialism · immanent · transcendent · scholasticism · potentiality · actuality
Ethics judging by results
- utilitarianismGreatest-happiness moral theory
- deontologyMorality based on obligations
- moralityRight and wrong principles
- flourishingProspering vigorously
purpose
Reason something exists
design · function · meaning · rationale · calling · vocation · mission · destiny · fate · providence
creationism
Divine origin doctrine
- providenceDivine protective care
- creatorOne who produces something
- theismBelief in deity
adaptation
Fitting to new conditions
organism · survival · reproduction · complexity · Darwinism · vestigial · homology · instinct · behavior
Aristotle
Greek founder of formal logic
- metaphysicsPhilosophy of existence's nature
- causationProduction of effects
- cosmologyStudy of universal structure
Aquinas · Leibniz · Plato · essentialism · immanent · transcendent · scholasticism · potentiality · actuality
consequentialism
Ethics judging by results
- utilitarianismGreatest-happiness moral theory
- deontologyMorality based on obligations
- moralityRight and wrong principles
teleologicalmechanistic
Viewing systems as machines
mechanical · causal · deterministic · materialist · blind
teleologicalrandom
Occurring without pattern
purposeless · aimless · meaningless · accidental · stochastic
teleologicalstochastic
Randomly determined, statistically describable
random · accidental · contingent · chance-based · aleatory