teleological

Sometimes tele·o·logic

[tel-ee-uh-loj-i-kuhl, tee-lee-]

adjective

Philosophy.

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

Other Word Forms

• teleologically adverb
• nonteleological adjective
• nonteleologically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of teleological¹

teleolog(y) + -ical

Example Sentences

The view that history is teleological, that it is goal-directed, is a fallacy believed in by Christians, conservatives, liberals and Marxists alike.

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

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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.

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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.

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Journalist Garry Wills saw it differently, as he explained in 1976: “It is unfortunate that McCarthyism was named teleologically, from its most perfect product, rather than genetically — which would give us Trumanism.”

Read more on Washington Post