Teleology and Teleological Argument

The Meaning of Teleology;

Teleomentalist views in biology are seen as a mere metaphor- describing and explaining biological phenomena on the basis of less or loose comparisons to psychological teleology. Those who hold teleology in biology to be metaphorical in nature typically regard it as eliminable meaning they believe that science in biology would not be essentially altered if all references to teleology were eschewed.

The Meaning of Teleonaturalism;

Those who reject teleomentalism typically seek naturalistic truth conditions for teleological claims in biology that do not refer to the intentions, goals or purposes of psychological agents. Some teleonaturalists seek to reduce teleological language to forms of description and explanation that are found in other parts of science.
One class of such views defines teleological notions cybernetically and maintains that teleology in biology is appropriate insofar as biological systems are cybernetic systems. Another, more-widely accepted approach treats functional claims in biology as part of the analysis of the capacities of a complex system into various component capacities.

Teleomentalism Vs Teleonaturalism

Several theorists have argued for the pluralistic idea that biology may incorporated two notions of function.

• One to explain the presence of traits
• to explain how those traits contribute to the complex capacities of organisms.
• Others have argued that these two apparently distinct notions of function can be unified by regarding the target of explanation as the biological fitness of a whole organism.

Nonetheless, the mainstream view among philosophers of biology is that natural selection accounts best explain the majority of uses of teleological notions in biology.


References/Further Reading

Allen, C. (1996). Teleological Notions in Biology. [online] Plato.stanford.edu. Available at: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/teleology-biology/ [Accessed 3 May 2016].