Teleology and purposiveness in biology

Verworn (1899, General Physiology) wrote that the purposefulness of living nature had long forced scientists to embrace teleology, meaning a fore-ordained plan of creation.¹ Morgan (1901, Regeneration) called the adaptation of organisms to their environment one of the most difficult questions for the biologist. He quoted Pflüger, who held that only those combinations of causes occur that are as favourable as possible for the animal's welfare.² Rádl (1930) reported that Pflüger formulated a law of teleological causality, under which the cause of a desire also leads to its satisfaction.⁵ Rádl added that physiology became the leading teleological science after Darwin.⁵

Driesch (1908) distinguished kinds of teleology. He held that processes in human-made machines are purposeful because they are actions of men, and he noted that the concept had thereby been carried over to inorganic events.³ Henderson (1913, The Fitness of the Environment) argued that postulating a general tendency toward fitness is a philosophical act rather than a scientific one.⁴ Thompson (1992 edition, On Growth and Form) described a view in which the final cause becomes only the result of a process of sifting good from bad. On that view apparent purpose belongs to a mechanical philosophy.⁶

Constant and colleagues (2018) set out the standard evolutionary account. Under natural selection, traits that enhance fitness are retained and others are lost, and this explains the appearance of adaptive design.⁷ They contrasted it with niche construction. They judged it unclear whether constructed niches adapt the environment to the organism systematically, because such environments can raise or lower reproductive success. They concluded that niche construction theory might not generate predictions about adaptation.⁷

Levin and Resnik (2026) stated that attempts to banish teleological concepts from the life sciences have largely failed. They gave two reasons: life shows goal-directedness that is hard to explain in causal-mechanical terms, and terms such as goal, purpose and function are useful in modelling and experimental design.⁸ Trewavas (2026) reported that the word teleonomy was coined to replace teleology. He quoted a Nobel prize winner who called purpose essential to the definition of living beings. He defined biological purpose as goal-directed behaviour with no implication of conscious control.⁹