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

The existence of God is an eternally perfect entelechy, a life everlasting.

From A Short History of Greek Philosophy by Marshall, John

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

Subtle fluids play a great part in Lamarck's biology: they take the place of the soul or entelechy which the vitalists would postulate to explain organic happenings.

From Form and Function A Contribution to the History of Animal Morphology by E. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell

"The soul," he says, "is the first entelechy of an active body."

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 02, No. 08, June 1858 by Various