teleologies

Noun

teleology (countable and uncountable, plural teleologies)

1. (uncountable) The study of the design or final purpose of natural occurrences, that is, of such occurrences being the result of intention instead of prior causes.
   • The received intellectual tradition has it that, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, revolutionary philosophers began to curtail and reject the teleology of the medieval and scholastic Aristotelians, abandoning final causes in favor of a purely mechanistic model of the Universe.2008, Monte Ransom Johnson, “Historical Background to the Interpretation of Aristotle’s Teleology”, in Julia Annas, Lindsay Judson, editors, Aristotle on Teleology (Oxford Aristotle Studies), Oxford...
   1. (broadly, uncountable) Design, final purpose, or intention in a natural occurrence; (countable) an assertion or instance of this.
      • Their proposed explanation at the time was riddled with teleology.
2. (uncountable) The belief or theory that a natural occurrence is the result of divine design or intention rather than the laws of nature or science; theoteleology; (countable) a particular belief or theory of this sort.