Hypertext Webster Gateway: "teleology"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Teleology \Te`le*ol"o*gy\, n. [Gr. ?, teleos, the end or issue +
-logy: cf. F. t['e]l['e]ologie.]
The doctrine of the final causes of things; specif. (Biol.),
the doctrine of design, which assumes that the phenomena of
organic life, particularly those of evolution, are explicable
only by purposive causes, and that they in no way admit of a
mechanical explanation or one based entirely on biological
science; the doctrine of adaptation to purpose.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
teleology
n : a doctrine explaining phenomena by their ends or purposes
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