View source for Telos

{{Short description|Aristototelian concept of an object's final cause}}
{{Other uses|Telos (disambiguation)}}
{{Confused|Talos}}
{{wikt | telos}}

'''Telos''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|t|ɛ|l|ɒ|s|,_|ˈ|t|iː|l|ɒ|s}};<ref>{{cite Dictionary.com|telos}}</ref> {{langx|grc|{{wikt-lang|grc|τέλος}}|{{grc-transl|[[wikt:telos|τέλος]]}}|end, purpose, goal}})<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://britannica.com/topic/teleological-ethics |title=Teleological ethics |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |year=2008 |orig-year=1998}}</ref> is a term used by the philosopher [[Aristotle]] to refer to the [[Four causes#Final cause|final cause]] of a natural organ or entity, or of human [[art]]. The Greek word {{transliteration | grc | telos}} is the [[Root (linguistics)|root]] of the modern term "[[teleology]]", the study of purposiveness or of objects with a view to their aims, purposes, or intentions. Teleology is central in Aristotle's work on plant and animal [[biology]], and in his analysis of human [[Nicomachean Ethics|ethics]], through his theory of the [[four causes]]. Aristotle's notion that everything has a ''telos'' also gave rise to [[epistemology]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Politics: An Introduction to Modern Democratic Government |last=Eagles |first=Munroe |date=2008 |publisher=Broadview Press |isbn=978-1551118581 |location=Ontario |pages=87}}</ref>

== In Aristotle ==
''Telos'' has been consistently used in the writings of Aristotle, in which the term, on several occasions, denotes 'goal'.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Myth, Telos, Identity: The Tragic Schema in Greek and Shakespearean Drama|last=Nyusztay|first=Ivan|publisher=Rodopi|year=2002|isbn=9042015403|location=New York|pages=84}}</ref> It is considered synonymous to ''teleute'' ('end'), particularly in Aristotle's discourse about the plot-structure in ''[[Poetics]]''.<ref name=":0" /> The philosopher went as far as to say that ''telos'' can encompass all forms of human activity.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Philosophy: Key Texts|last=Baggini|first=Julian|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2016|isbn=978-0333964859|location=New York|pages=14}}</ref> One can say, for instance, that the ''telos'' of warfare is victory, or the ''telos'' of business is the creation of [[wealth]]. Within this conceptualization, there are ''telos'' that are subordinate to other ''telos'', as all activities have their own respective goals.

For Aristotle, these subordinate ''telos'' can become the means to achieve more fundamental ''telos''.<ref name=":1" /> Through this concept, for instance, the philosopher underscored the importance of politics and that all other fields are subservient to it. He explained that the ''telos'' of the blacksmith is the production of a sword, while that of the swordsman's, which uses the weapon as a tool, is to kill or incapacitate an enemy.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bDJwDwAAQBAJ&dq=telos+end+aristotle&pg=PT84|title=The History of Philosophy|last=Grayling|first=A. C.|date=2019|publisher=Penguin UK|isbn=978-0241980866|language=en}}</ref> On the other hand, the ''telos'' of these occupations are merely part of the purpose of a ruler, who must oversee the direction and well-being of a state.<ref name=":2" />

Moreover, it can be understood as the "supreme end of man's endeavour".<ref>"[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cicero/de_Finibus/Introduction*.html Introduction to 'de Finabus']." ''Cicero: de Finibus'' XVII (2nd ed.). ''[[Loeb Classical Library]]''. [[Harvard University Press]] (1931), transcribed by B. Thayer.</ref> 

{{Quote frame|"Pleasure and pain moreover supply the motives of desire and of avoidance, and the springs of conduct generally. This being so, it clearly follows that actions are right and praiseworthy only as being a means to the attainment of a life of pleasure. But that which is not itself a means to anything else, but to which all else is a means, is what the Greeks term the Telos, the highest, ultimate or final Good. It must therefore be admitted that the Chief Good is to live agreeably."|[[Cicero]]|[[De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum]]|Book I<ref>Rackham, H. Harris, trans. 1931. "[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cicero/de_Finibus/1*.html Book I]." In ''Cicero: de Finibus'' XVII (2nd ed.). Loeb Classical Library, [[Harvard University Press]], transcribed by B. Thayer. [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cicero/de_Finibus/1*.html#42 p. 42].</ref>}}

=== ''Telos'' vs ''techne'' ===
''Telos'' is associated with the concept called ''[[techne]],'' which is the rational method involved in producing an object or accomplishing a goal or objective. In the Theuth/Thamus myth, for instance, the section covering ''techne'' referred to ''telos'' and ''techne'' together.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Griswold|first=Charles|title=Self-Knowledge in Plato's Phaedrus|publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0271016184|location=University Park, PA|page=160}}</ref> The two methods are, however, not mutually exclusive in principle. These are demonstrated in the cases of [[writing]] and seeing, as explained by [[Martin Heidegger]]: the former is considered a form of ''techne'', as the end product lies beyond (''para'') the activity of producing; whereas, in seeing, there is no remainder outside of or beyond the activity itself at the moment it is accomplished.<ref>{{Cite book|last=McNeill|first=William|title=Time of Life, The: Heidegger and Ethos|publisher=State University of New York Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0791467831|location=Albany|pages=6}}</ref> Aristotle, for his part, simply designated ''sophia'' (also referred to as the ''arete'' or excellence of philosophical reflection) as the consummation or the final cause (''telos'') of ''techne''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rojcewicz|first=Richard|title=The Gods and Technology: A Reading of Heidegger|date=2006|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0791466414|location=Albany|page=64}}</ref> Heidegger attempted to explain the Aristotelian conceptualization outlined in the ''[[Nicomachean Ethics]]'', where the ''eidos''{{snd}}the soul of the maker{{snd}}was treated as the ''arche'' of the thing made (''ergon'').<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|last=Radloff|first=Bernhard|title=Heidegger and the Question of National Socialism: Disclosure and Gestalt|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0802093158|location=Toronto|page=354|language=en}}</ref> In this analogy, the telos constitutes the ''[[arche]]'' but in a certain degree not at the disposition of ''techne''.<ref name=":5" />

== In modern philosophy ==
The notion of purpose, or telos, has formed the foundation of [[cybernetics]], and is now part of the modern analysis of [[social media platforms]] as intelligent [[social machines]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cristianini |first=Nello |title=The shortcut : why intelligent machines do not think like us |date=2023 |isbn=978-1-003-33581-8 |edition=1st |location=Boca Raton |oclc=1352480147}}</ref>

[[Action theory (philosophy)|Action theory]] also makes essential use of teleological vocabulary. From [[Donald Davidson (philosopher)|Donald Davidson]]'s perspective, an ''action'' is just something an agent does with an [[intention]]{{snd}}i.e., looking forward to some end to be achieved by the action.<ref name=":4" /> ''Action'' is considered just a step that is necessary to fulfill human telos, as it leads to habits.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M89TDAAAQBAJ&dq=telos+philosophy+of+action&pg=PA262|title=Time and the Philosophy of Action|last1=Altshuler|first1=Roman|last2=Sigrist|first2=Michael J.|date=2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1317819479|language=en}}</ref>

According to the [[Marxist philosophy|Marxist perspective]], historical change is dictated by socio-economic structures (or "laws"), which are simultaneously preconditions and limitations of the realization of the ''telos'' of the [[Class conflict|class struggle]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fløistad|first=Guttorm|title=Volume 3: Philosophy of Action|date=2012|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers|isbn=978-9024732999|location=The Hague|pages=10}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Conatus]]
* [[Dysteleology]]
* [[Metaphysics]]
* [[Plato]]
* [[Polytely]]
* [[Teleological argument]]
* [[Teleonomy]]

==References==
<references />

==External links==
* [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/teleology-biology Teleological Notions in Biology], ''[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]''
* Alexander, Victoria N. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110716074248/http://dactylfoundation.org/?page_id=1893 ''Narrative Telos: The Ordering Tendencies of Chance'']. [[Dactyl Foundation]].

{{Ancient Greek philosophical concepts}}
{{Aristotelianism}}

{{Use British English Oxford spelling|date=February 2018}}

[[Category:Action (philosophy)]]
[[Category:Aristotelianism]]
[[Category:Concepts in ancient Greek metaphysics]]
[[Category:Concepts in social philosophy]]
[[Category:Philosophy of Aristotle]]
[[Category:Teleology]]