Entelechy
In his
Metaphysics,
Aristotle himself introduced the idea of an entity that has developed an internal
purpose. He called it "entelechy," which has confused many modern thinkers. But it is very close to the idea of
teleonomy, the modern biologist's replacement for the Aristotelian "fourth cause" or
teleology.
Aristotle combined three Greek words - εν (in), τελος, and εχειν (to have), so Greek εντελεχεια has the meaning of "having a telos/purpose within."
This is what biologist
Colin Pittendrigh and many later biologists see going on in all living things, clearly their "'ends' of feeding, defense, and survival generally." The "goal" of living things is to survive and multiply.
Contemplating
purpose, the biologist
François Jacob famously said simply "the goal of a cell is to become two cells."
Hans Driesch made
entelechy famous in biology. He was a philosopher and biologist who in the nineteenth century cloned the first animal, a sea urchin. Driesch was a student of
Ernst Haeckel, famous for the debunked theory "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny." Driesch's discovery that many parts of the sea urchin embryo were capable of producing a complete animal refuted the theory of "preformation," in which the very first cell alone contained the entire future development of an organism.
Preformation suggested that starting with one cell taken from the two-cell - or four-cell - stage, would lead to one-half - or one-quarter - of the organism. In reality, every cell contains complete genetic information.
Driesch saw clear evidence of a kind of
teleology in the ability of lower organisms to rebuild their lost limbs and other vital parts. He used
Aristotle's term "entelechy" (loosely translated as "having the final cause in") to describe the organism's capacity to rebuild. Driesch said this disproved the theory of
preformation. Driesch studied the original cells of a sea urchin, after they had divided into two cells, then four, then eight. At each of these stages, Driesch separated out single cells and found that the separated cells went on to develop into complete organisms (instead of just one-half, or one-quarter, etc. of the organism). His work is regarded as the first example of
biological cloning.
Today, entelechy is rarely mentioned in chemistry or in biology. But the word is found today in the human potential movement. It often refers to the realization of potential or the vital force driving development and self-fulfillment. It appears in discussions about ethics, education, and psychology, sometimes paralleling concepts like self-actualization. It's also used in educational contexts, where curricula are sometimes designed to help students realize their full potential.
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