finalism

American  

[fahyn-l-iz-uhm] / ˈfaɪn lˌɪz əm /

noun

1. the doctrine or belief that all events are determined by their purposes or goals.

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finalism British  

/ ˈfaɪnəˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. philosophy the doctrine that final causes determine the course of all events

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Other Word Forms

• finalistic adjective

Etymology

Origin of finalism

First recorded in 1905–10; final + -ism

Example Sentences

The theory we shall put forward in this book will therefore necessarily partake of finalism to a certain extent.”

From Project Gutenberg

M. Bergson's form of finalism depends upon his conception of life.

From Project Gutenberg

One of the principal objects of that essay was, in fact, to show that the psychical life is neither unity nor multiplicity, that it transcends both the mechanical and the intellectual, mechanism and finalism having meaning only where there is "distinct multiplicity," "spatiality," and consequently assemblage of pre-existing parts: "real duration" signifies both undivided continuity and creation.

From Project Gutenberg

The theory we shall put forward in this book will therefore necessarily partake of finalism to a certain extent.

From Project Gutenberg

Let us say at once that to thin out the Leibnizian finalism by breaking it into an infinite number of pieces seems to us a step in the wrong direction.

From Project Gutenberg