Dysteleology, a modern word invented and popularized by
HaeckelErnst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel ,also written von Haeckel, was an eminent German biologist, naturalist, philosopher, physician, professor and artist who discovered, described and named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms, and coined many terms in...
, is the
philosophicalPhilosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing these questions by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on reasoned...
view that
existenceExistence can be defined as simply being or continuing in time.In common usage, existence is the world of which we are aware through our senses, but in philosophy the word has a more specialized meaning, and is often contrasted with essence...
has no
telosA telos is an end or purpose, in a fairly constrained sense used by philosophers such as Aristotle. It is the root of the term "teleology," roughly the study of purposiveness, or the study of objects with a view to their aims, purposes, or intentions. Teleology figures centrally in Aristotle's...
or
final causeIn Aristotle's Metaphysics, there are four main causes of change in nature: the material cause, the formal cause, the efficient cause, and the final cause....
. Dysteleology is an aggressive, yet optimistic, form of science-oriented
atheismAtheism can be either the rejection of theism,or the position that deities do not exist.In the broadest sense, it is the absence of belief in the existence of deities....
originally perhaps associated with Ernst Haekel and his followers, but now perhaps more associated with the type of atheism of
Richard DawkinsClinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL is a British ethologist, zoologist, Neo-Darwinian evolutionary biologist and theorist and a popular science author....
,
Sam HarrisSam Harris is an American neuroscientist, non-fiction writer, and proponent of scientific skepticism. He is the author of The End of Faith , which won the 2005 PEN/Martha Albrand Award, and Letter to a Christian Nation , a rejoinder to the criticism his first book attracted.-Early life and...
, or
Christopher HitchensChristopher Eric Hitchens is an English-American author, journalist, and literary critic. He has been a columnist at Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, World Affairs, The Nation, Slate, Free Inquiry, and a variety of other media outlets...
.
Western philosophyWestern philosophy is the philosophical thought and work of the Western or Occidental world, as distinct from Eastern or Oriental philosophies and the varieties of indigenous philosophies....
since Copernicus has been increasingly dysteleological. Unlike traditional philosophical and religious perspectives,
modernModernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes both a set of cultural tendencies and an array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society in the late...
philosophical naturalism sees existence as having no inherent goal.
Dysteleology, a modern word invented and popularized by
HaeckelErnst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel ,also written von Haeckel, was an eminent German biologist, naturalist, philosopher, physician, professor and artist who discovered, described and named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms, and coined many terms in...
, is the
philosophicalPhilosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing these questions by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on reasoned...
view that
existenceExistence can be defined as simply being or continuing in time.In common usage, existence is the world of which we are aware through our senses, but in philosophy the word has a more specialized meaning, and is often contrasted with essence...
has no
telosA telos is an end or purpose, in a fairly constrained sense used by philosophers such as Aristotle. It is the root of the term "teleology," roughly the study of purposiveness, or the study of objects with a view to their aims, purposes, or intentions. Teleology figures centrally in Aristotle's...
or
final causeIn Aristotle's Metaphysics, there are four main causes of change in nature: the material cause, the formal cause, the efficient cause, and the final cause....
. Dysteleology is an aggressive, yet optimistic, form of science-oriented
atheismAtheism can be either the rejection of theism,or the position that deities do not exist.In the broadest sense, it is the absence of belief in the existence of deities....
originally perhaps associated with Ernst Haekel and his followers, but now perhaps more associated with the type of atheism of
Richard DawkinsClinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL is a British ethologist, zoologist, Neo-Darwinian evolutionary biologist and theorist and a popular science author....
,
Sam HarrisSam Harris is an American neuroscientist, non-fiction writer, and proponent of scientific skepticism. He is the author of The End of Faith , which won the 2005 PEN/Martha Albrand Award, and Letter to a Christian Nation , a rejoinder to the criticism his first book attracted.-Early life and...
, or
Christopher HitchensChristopher Eric Hitchens is an English-American author, journalist, and literary critic. He has been a columnist at Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, World Affairs, The Nation, Slate, Free Inquiry, and a variety of other media outlets...
.
Western philosophyWestern philosophy is the philosophical thought and work of the Western or Occidental world, as distinct from Eastern or Oriental philosophies and the varieties of indigenous philosophies....
since Copernicus has been increasingly dysteleological. Unlike traditional philosophical and religious perspectives,
modernModernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes both a set of cultural tendencies and an array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society in the late...
philosophical naturalism sees existence as having no inherent goal. Philosophical schools that have rejected dysteleology include
German idealismGerman idealism was a philosophical movement that emerged in Germany in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It developed out of the work of Immanuel Kant in the 1780s and 1790s, and was closely linked both with romanticism and the revolutionary politics of the Enlightenment...
(including the philosophies of
HegelGeorg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher, one of the creators of German Idealism, and along with Immanuel Kant, one of the most influential philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment....
and Schelling), Integral theory, and some adherents to the
Anthropic principleIn physics and cosmology, the anthropic principle is the collective name for several ways of asserting that physical and chemical theories, especially astrophysics and cosmology, need to take into account that there is life on Earth, and that one form of that life, Homo sapiens, has attained...
.
Dysteleology is also the name given to a line of reasoning within the
philosophy of religionPhilosophy of religion is a branch of philosophy that asks questions about religion. As with all philosophies, the topics at hand are generated by those who participate...
, which stands in opposition to the
Teleological argumentA teleological argument, or argument from design, is an argument for the existence of God or a creator based on perceived evidence of order, purpose, design, or direction — or some combination of these — in nature. The word "teleological" is derived from the Greek word telos, meaning "end" or...
. It claims that the discord, pain and evil in the universe suggests that there is no
GodGod is a deity in theistic and deistic religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
or creative force behind it, or that, if there is such a force, it is malevolent rather than benevolent.
Haeckel as a philosopher
HaeckelErnst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel ,also written von Haeckel, was an eminent German biologist, naturalist, philosopher, physician, professor and artist who discovered, described and named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms, and coined many terms in...
(1834-1919) was a scientist, philosopher, physician, and artist with a range of talents and achievements somewhat rivaling polymathic geniuses like
LeonardoLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer....
or Goethe; however, many of his speculative ideas were scientifically incorrect. As a philosopher, Haeckel developed a
hylozoisticHylozoism is the philosophical conjecture that all or some material things possess life, or that all life is inseparable from matter. The English term was introduced by Ralph Cudworth in 1678.- Distinction from similar theories :...
metaphysics somewhat reminiscent of that of the early Greeks. For the traditional Judaeo-Christian emphasis on God, immortality, and free will as a gift from God, he substituted a naturalistic monistic metaphysics emphasizing truth, beauty, and morality with scientific progress. Haeckel's most popular work was perhaps
The Riddle of the UniverseThe term "world riddle" or "world-riddle" has been associated, for over 100 years, with Friedrich Nietzsche...
(1895-1899, 1901 in English translation). In 1905, in order to promote his own political and philosophical beliefs, Haeckel founded the "Monist League", which survived his death and lasted until the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933. In the history of science, Haeckel played an important role in publicizing Darwin's ideas, as did T. H. Huxley in Britain and
Léon DumontLéon Dumont was a French psychologist and philosopher. He influenced Nietzsche and William James and is perhaps best known for his treatise on the causes of laughter ....
in France.
Topics specifically related to Haeckel's dysteleology
Topics related to general dysteleology