entelechy

Noun

entelechy (plural entelechies)

1. (Aristotelian metaphysics) The complete realisation and final form of some potential concept or function; the conditions under which a potential thing becomes actualized.
   • [Pages 114–115] [H]e [Aristotle] tells us expressly, that that which we call the rational soul is […] 'separable from the body,' […] 'because it is not the entelech of any body.' […] [page 500] Wickedness is the form and entelech of all the wicked spirits: it is the difference of a name, rather...1821, John Smith with Simon Patrick, Select Discourses: by John Smith, Late Fellow of Queen's College in Cambridge. To which is Added a Sermon, Preached at the Author's Funeral, by Symon Patrick...
   • Act, as we have already emphasized, is also called by Aristotle an entelechy. […] [A]ct and entelechy bespeak something fulfilled, actualized perfection, or the actualized. The soul, hence, insofar as it is essence or form of the body, is the act and entelechy of the body; and in general all forms...1990, Giovanni Reale with John R. Catan, ed. and transl., A History of Ancient Philosophy: II. Plato and Aristotle, Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, →ISBN, page 285
   1. (specifically, Aristotelian metaphysics) In the metaphysics of Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.) and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716): a soul; a monad (Leibniz).
      • Aristotle […] calleth it [the soul] Entelechy, or perfection moving of it selfe (as cold an invention as any other) for he neither speaketh of the essence, nor of the beginning, nor of the soules nature; but onely noteth the effects of it […]., II.12
      • Both Aristotle's concept of the entelechy and its modified role in Leibnizian "monadology" use the term in ways that could be applied in any being or "substance," such as an amoeba or a tree, or even some one particular pebble viewed as being moved to fulfill the potentialities peculiar to its kind.2003, Kenneth Burke, edited by William H. Rueckert and Angelo Bonadonna, On Human Nature: A Gathering while Everything Flows, 1967–1984, Berkeley and Los Angeles, Calif.: University of California...
2. A particular type of motivation, need for self-determination, and inner strength directing life and growth to become all one is capable of being; the need to actualize one's beliefs; having both a personal vision and the ability to actualize that vision from within.
   • The entelechy is the name given to our inner dynamic purpose. It is the seed of potential that nestles deep within us, containing the fractal image of who we really are and what we can become. The Greek philosopher Socrates first coined the term entelechy, and the great mystic [Pierre] Teilhard de...2008, Lisa Tenzin-Dolma, Mind & Motivation: The Spirit of Success, U.K.: Phoenix Rising Press, →ISBN, page 64
   • Karl Rahner and especially David Coffey, who follows and develops Rahner's theology, point out that the Holy Spirit bears an entelechy toward the Son. An entelechy (as the term is used by Rahner and Coffey) is an internal force or principle that drives a being toward its destiny. When applied to...2010, Michael Wilkinson, Steven M. Studebaker, editors, A Liberating Spirit: Pentecostals and Social Action in North America [Pentecostals, Peacemaking, and Social Justice; 2], Eugene, Or.: Pickwick...