entelechy

American  

[en-tel-uh-kee] / ɛnˈtɛl ə ki /

noun

plural

entelechies

1. a realization or actuality as opposed to a potentiality.

2. (in vitalist philosophy) a vital agent or force directing growth and life.

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entelechy British  

/ ɛnˈtɛlɪkɪ /

noun

1. (in the philosophy of Aristotle) actuality as opposed to potentiality

2. (in the system of Leibnitz) the soul or principle of perfection of an object or person; a monad or basic constituent

3. something that contains or realizes a final cause, esp the vital force thought to direct the life of an organism

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Other Word Forms

• entelechial adjective

Etymology

Origin of entelechy

1595–1605; < Late Latin entelechīa < Greek entelécheia, equivalent to en- en- ² + tél ( os ) goal + éch ( ein ) to have + -eia -y ³

Example Sentences

In 1899, by fertilizing sea-urchin eggs with chemicals and producing young larvae, he struck a heavy blow at the popular vitalistic theory which maintained that some intangible "vital spirit" or "entelechy" was necessary to life.

From Time Magazine Archive

Shall we say with Aristotle, that the soul is the entelechy or form of an organized living body? or with Plato, that she has a life of her own?

From Phaedo by Jowett, Benjamin

Thus the entelechy of the body is the soul.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 6 "Foraminifera" to "Fox, Edward" by Various

It is the theory that there is some other element—call it entelechy with Driesch, or call it what you like—in living things than those elements known to chemistry and physics.

From Science and Morals and Other Essays by Windle, Bertram Coghill Alan, Sir

It is the gospel of work: our endeavour must be to realise our best self in deed and action; to strive until our personality attains, in Aristotle's word, its entelechy; its full development.

From Maxims and Reflections by Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von