Skip to main content

Sage Social Science Thesaurus

Search from vocabulary

Content language

Concept information

other subjects > arts and humanities > philosophy > metaphysics > teleology
social science subjects > sociology > anthropology > research/theoretical frameworks > teleology
... > social science subjects > politics and international relations > political science > political theory > empirical political theory > scientific explanation > teleology
... > social science subjects > psychology > psychological assessment > theory and methodology > scientific explanation > teleology
... > social science subjects > social research > research methods and evaluation > concepts & philosophies > scientific explanation > teleology

Preferred term

teleology  

Definition

  • Teleology (from Greek words telos, “end,” and logos, “reason, discourse”) is the study of processes in nature as they are driven by their ends, goals, and purposes. This is diametrically opposed to a mechanistic explanation based only on cause–effect sequences in time series. [Source: Encyclopedia of Anthropology; Teleology]

Broader concept

Belongs to group

URI

https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/teleology

Download this concept:

RDF/XML TURTLE JSON-LD