BibTeX
@MISC{Cameron_anontology,
author = {Cameron},
title = {An Ontology for Aristotelian Teleology.},
year = {}
}
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Abstract
Unless otherwise specified I use 'teleology' and its cognates to indicate a sui generis irreducible real causal factor in the structure of the world. 2 David Charles (1988, esp. pp. 38-9) explains how teleology can be metaphysically robust in a 'static' sense. On his view, teleology is explanatory because it picks things out by their essential features. This, while perhaps true, is insufficient to solve the traditional problem of how biological teleology can be explanatory; the traditional problem seeks a metaphysical basis or understanding of how it is that final causality makes a causal contribution to say, the growth and behavior of plants. How is it that 'seeking the sun' can explain the leaves' turning? Charles' explanation while valuable in itself cannot help us to answer this question, and it is the latter sort of problem that I attempt to address in this chapter. 2 appeal given the persistence and apparent explanatory fruitfulness of
