Word of the Day:
entelechy
What It Means
The complete realisation and final form of some potential concept or function; the conditions under which a potential thing becomes actualized.
In the metaphysics of Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.) and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716): a soul; a monad (Leibniz).
Entelechy in Context
“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...”
Did You Know?
From Late Latin entelechia, from Ancient Greek ἐντελέχεια (entelékheia), coined by Aristotle from ἐντελής (entelḗs, “complete, finished, perfect”) (from τέλος (télos, “end, fruition, accomplishment”)) + ἔχω (ékhō, “to have”).
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: entelechy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the word and reformatted its meaning, examples and origin.
Cite this entry: “entelechy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/entelechy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
