Abstract
Teleological language is frequently used in biology in order to make statements about the functions of organs, about physiological processes, and about the behavior and actions of species and individuals. Such language is characterized by the use of the words ‘function’, ‘purpose’, and ‘goal’, as well as by statements that something exists or is done ‘in order to’. Typical statements of this sort are ‘It is one of the functions of the kidneys to eliminate the end products of protein metabolism’, or ‘Birds migrate to warm climates in order to escape the low temperatures and food shortages of winter’. In spite of the long-standing misgivings of physical scientists, philosophers, and logicians, many biologists have continued to insist not only that such teleological statements are objective and free of metaphysical content, but also that they express something important which is lost when teleological language is eliminated from such statements. Recent reviews of the problem in the philosophical literature (Nagel, 1961; Beckner, 1969; Hull, 1973; to cite only a few of a large selection of such publications), concede the legitimacy of some teleological statements but still display considerable divergence of opinion as to the actual meaning of the word ‘teleological’ and the relations between teleology and causality.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Ayala, F. J., ‘Teleological Explanations in Evolutionary Biology’, Phil. Sci. 37 (1970) 1–15.
Baer, K. E. von, ‘Über den Zweck in den Vorgängen der Natur’, Studien, etc. (1876) 49–105, 170-234, St. Petersburg.
Beckner, M., ‘Function and Teleology’, J. Hist. Biol. 2 (1969) 151–164.
Bergson, H., Evolution Créative, Alcan, Paris, 1907.
Braithwaite, R. D., Scientific Explanation, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1954 (also in Canfield, pp. 27–47).
Canfield, J. V. (ed.), Purpose in Nature, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1966, p. 1–7.
Craig, W., ‘Appetites and Aversions as Constituents of Instincts’, Biol. Bull. 34 (1918) 91–107.
Davis, B. D., ‘The Teleonomic Significance of Biosynthetic Control Mechanisms’, Cold Spring Harbor Symposia 26 (1961), 1–10.
Delbrück, M., ‘Aristotle-totle-totle’, in Of Microbes and Life (ed. by J. Monod and E. Borek), Columbia University Press, New York, 1971.
Driesch, H., Philosophie des Organischen, Quelle und Meyer, Leipzig, 1909.
Hinde, R. A. (ed.), Non-Verbal Communication, Cambridge University Press, 1972.
Hinde, R. A. and Stevenson, J. G., ‘Goals and Response Controls’, in Development and Evolution of Behavior (ed. by L. R. Aronson et al.), Freeman, 1970.
Hull, D., Philosophy of Biological Science, Foundations of Philosophy Series, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1973.
Jakobson, R., ‘Linguistics’, in Main Trends of Research in the Social and Human Sciences, Chapter 6, 1970.
Kant, I., Kritik der Urteilskraft, Zweiter Teil, 1790.
Lagerspetz, K., ‘Teleological Explanations and Terms in Biology’, Ann. Zool. Soc. Vanamo 19 (1959) 1–73.
Lehman, H., ‘Functional Explanation in Biology’, Philos. Sci. 32 (1965) 1–20.
Lovejoy, A. O., The Great Chain of Being, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1936.
MacLeod, R. B., ‘Teleology and Theory of Human Behavior’, Science 125 (1957) 477.
Mainx, F., Foundations of Biology, Foundations of the Unity of Science, I(9) (1955) 1–86.
Mayr, E., ‘Cause and Effect in Biology’, Science 134 (1961) 1501–1506.
Mayr, E., ‘The Evolution of Living Systems’, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 51 (1964) 934–941.
McFarland, J. D., Kant’s Concept of Teleology, Univ. of Edinburgh Press, 1970.
Monod, J., Chance and Necessity, Alfred A. Knopf., New York, 1971.
Munson, R., Biological Adaptation’, Phil. Sci. 38 (1971) 200–215.
Nagel, E., ‘The Structure of Teleological Explanations’, in The Structure of Science, Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1961.
Pittendrigh, C. S., Behavior and Evolution (ed. by A. Roe and G. G. Simpson), Yale University Press, New Haven, 1958.
Raven, Chr. P., ‘The Formalization of Finality’, Folia Biotheoretica V (1960) 1–27.
Roe, A. and Simpson, G. G. (eds.), Behavior and Evolution, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1958.
Rosenblueth, H., Wiener, N., and Bigelow, J., ‘Behavior, Purpose, and Teleology’, Philos. Sci. 10 (1943) 18–24 (also in Canfield, pp. 9-16).
Roux, W., Über die Bedeutung der Kerntheilungsfiguren. Eine hypothetische Erörterung, Leipzig, 1883.
Sigwart, C., Der Kampf gegen den Zweck. Kleine Schriften 2, Mohr, Freiburg, 1881, pp. 24–67.
Simpson, G. G., The Meaning of Evolution; a study of the history of life and of its significance for man. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1949.
Smith, W. John, ‘Messages of Vertebrate Communication’, Science 165 (1969) 145–150.
Sommerhoff, G., Analytical Biology, Oxford University Press, London, 1950.
Stadler, H., Kant’s Teleologie und ihre erkenntnistheoretische Bedeutung, F. Dümmler, 1874.
Taylor, R., ‘Comments on a Mechanistic Conception of Purposefulness’, Phil. Sci. 17 (1950) 310–317 (also in Canfield, pp. 17-26).
Teilhard de Chardin, P., Le Phénomène Humain, Editions de Seuil, Paris, 1955.
Theiler, W., Zur Geschichte der Teologischen Naturbetrachtung bis Aristoteles, Zürich und Leipzig, 1925.
Ungerer, E., Die Teleologie Kants und ihre Bedeutung für die Logik der Biologie, Bornträger, Berlin, 1922.
Waddington, C. H., The Strategy of the Genes, George Allen & Unwin Ltd., London, 1957, pp. 11–58.
Waddington, C. H., Towards a Theoretical Biology I, Edinburgh University Press, 1968, pp. 55-56.
Weismann, A., ‘The Selection Theory’, in Darwin and Modern Science (ed. by A. C. Seward), Cambridge University Press, 1909.
Wimsatt, W. C., ‘Teleology and the Logical Structure of Function Statements’, Stud. Hist. Phil. Sci. 3 (1972) 1–80.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1974 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mayr, E. (1974). Teleological and Teleonomic, a New Analysis. In: Cohen, R.S., Wartofsky, M.W. (eds) Methodological and Historical Essays in the Natural and Social Sciences. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 14. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2128-9_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2128-9_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-277-0378-1
Online ISBN: 978-94-010-2128-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive