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Entelechy (Gk. ἐντελέχια) is a philosophical concept of Aristotle that was later adopted by the biological thinker Hans Driesch. From en (in), telos (end, or purpose) and echein (to have), Aristotle coined it to denote "having one's end within", therefore, that something's essential potential is being fully actualised.1
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Classical Philosophy
In Aristotle's Metaphysics, the concept is contrasted with energeia. Entelecheia has been seen as a fullness of actualization which requires an ongoing or standing investment of effort in order to persist, as opposed to the energeia which is the activity of actualization not necessarily completed. In this tradition, first entelechy is being in full working order (for example, the soul is the first entelechy of the body), and second entelechy is being in action. Somewhat contrarily, entelechy has also been seen as in some way perpetually "becoming itself" yet never reaching the goal of that "becoming" (and were it to do so, the entelechy would, by definition, cease to exist).
An individual's life can in many ways be regarded as beholden to various simultaneous and overlapping entelechies, for example, the life trajectories imposed by the biological limitations, our mortality, the norms and expectations of family and/or society, and the individual's ego-ideal. Externally imposed entelecheia and fantasized but unrealized entelchia can both be sources of frustration.
Societies can also be said to embody entelechia in their cultures; religious views, collective senses of entitlement, "mission" or "mandate" and even in their very languages. Societies/cultures sensing that their entelechial trajectory is reaching its terminus (i.e., sensing they are in decline) or that this trajectory has been deflected from its "proper" path by illegitimate forces - either internal or external - may exhibit violently irrational or even self-destructive reactions.
Thomism
Medieval Christianity, in the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, relied on Aristotle's entelechy, when it defined God as actus purus, pure act. This lead to conflict with the Eastern Orthodox, who believed in uncreated essences, while the Western Christians maintained that energies and essences were of the same substance and that they were always created.
Modern Philosophy
In German Idealism, entelechy may denote a force propelling one to self-fulfillment. The concept had occupied a central position in the metaphysics of Leibniz, and is closely related to his monadology in the sense that each sentient entity contains its own entire universe within it. Entelechy is also referred to by Hegel in The Phenomenology of Mind.citation needed
In the biological vitalism of Hans Driesch, living things develop by entelechy, a common purposive and organising field. Leading vitalists like Driesch argued that many of the basic problems of biology cannot be solved by a philosophy in which the organism is simply considered a machine.2
Aspects and applications of the concept of entelechy have been explored by the American critic and philosopher Kenneth Burke (1897-1993) whose concept of the "terministic screen" illustrates his thought on the subject.
See also
Bibliography
- Energeia And Entelecheia: "Act" in Aristotle by George Alfred Blair University of Ottawa Press ISBN-13: 978-0776603643
- Greek Philosophical Terms: A Historical Lexicon by Francis Peters NYU Press ISBN-13: 978-0814765524
- "Energeia and Entelecheia" in "Aristotle (384-322 BCE): Motion and its Place in Nature", by Joe Sachs in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- "Entelechy" (requires DjVu), either written or reviewed by philosopher C.S. Peirce, in the Century Dictionary, Vol. III, Page 1946.
References
- ^ entelechy - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
- ^ Mayr E (2002) The Walter Arndt Lecture: The Autonomy of Biology, adapted for the internet, on [1]
External links
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Look up entelechy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 27 December 2008, at 23:54.
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