Final Causality in Nature and Human AffairsRichard F. Hassing Teleology - the inquiry into the goals or goods at which nature, history, God, and human beings aim - is among the most fundamental yet controversial themes in the history of philosophy. Are there ends in nonhuman nature? Does human history have a goal? Do humanly unintended events of great significance express some sort of purpose? Do human beings have ends prior to choice? The essays in this volume address the abiding questions of final causality. The chapters are arranged in historical order from Aristotle through Hegel to contemporary anthropic-principle cosmology. |
Contents
RICHARD F HASSING Introduction | 1 |
Aristotles Definition of Nature? | 52 |
ALLAN GOTTHELF Understanding Aristotles | 71 |
ERNEST L FORTIN On the Presumed Medieval | 86 |
RICHARD L VELKLEY Moral Finality and | 107 |
DAVID A WHITE Unity and Form in Kants | 125 |
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Adam and Tannery Allan Gotthelf animals anthropic principle anthropic-principle Aquinas argument Aristotelian Aristotle Bacon basic biology bodies Cambridge causality chance complex contingency cosmos Critique of Judgment Descartes determine Discourse on Method distinction early modern effect empirical concept Entropy essential Ethics evolution evolutionary example existence explanation final cause force fundamental gravitational Hegel Hobbes holism human Ibid idea intelligible Kant Kant's kind laws of nature Leo Strauss living things logical Machiavelli Maimonides maple material matter means mechanics medieval metaphysical moral natural form natural purpose Natural Right necessity Newton objective observers organisms parallelogram rule particles particular passions phenomena philosophy Physical Cosmology political possible Prigogine problem produce protomatter quantum question reason reductionism reductionist reflective judgment relation scientific self-organization sense Socrates species Strauss structure substance teleology theory thermodynamics third Critique Tierney tion Tipler trans tree tuning understanding unity University Press whole York