teleological

American  

[tel-ee-uh-loj-i-kuhl, tee-lee-] / ˌtɛl i əˈlɒdʒ ɪ kəl, ˌti li- /

Sometimes teleologic

adjective

Philosophy.

1. of or relating to teleology, the philosophical doctrine that final causes, design, and purpose exist in nature.

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Other Word Forms

• nonteleological adjective
• nonteleologically adverb
• teleologically adverb

Etymology

Origin of teleological

teleolog(y) + -ical

Example Sentences

Instead, Harris’s seamless, all-explanatory narrative feels increasingly and weirdly teleological, like a cult belief system.

From New York Times

In such a way he avoids the teleological danger of making everything in Britain about the war as the country hurtles toward some kind of inevitable abyss.

From New York Times

Aristotle thus does not think of the natural movement of the elements as movement through space; he sees it in teleological terms as the realization of potential.

From Literature

Ross seems to acknowledge that, but he also protests that the “Wagner-to-Hitler” meme suggests a teleological progression that, while perhaps convenient, is dangerously simplistic.

From New York Times

The standard story about mass printing is a story of linear, teleological progress.

From The New Yorker