Introduction

Living things stand dramatically apart from other objects in the natural world, and this is due only in part to their unparalleled degree of complexity. Equally significantly, organisms—unlike non-living natural objects—seem to exhibit a teleological organization among their parts, features and activities. This is not to suggest that they were created for a purpose, or even that they were created at all; nor is it to suggest that the type of process that has given rise to organized complexity in living things—evolution through cumulative natural selection—is a purposive or end-directed one. The point is just that organisms appear to be integrated systems, the parts and features and activities of which can be said to have functions in a sense that implies existing or occurring for the sake of certain unifying biological ends of the organism—this being a teleological relation. If this is so, it is a remarkable fact about living things, and raises interesting questions about the nature and source of such natural teleological relations. ¹