Aristotle's Concept of Teleology Essay

     With the possible exception of Plato, Aristotle is the most influential philosopher in the history of logical thought. Logic into this century was basically Aristotelian logic. Aristotle dominated the study of the natural sciences until modern times. Aristotle, in some aspect, was the founder of biology; Charles Darwin considered him as the most important contributor to the subject. Aristotle’s Poetic, the first work of literary notice, had a string influence on the theory and practice of modern drama. Aristotle’s great influence is due to the fact that he seemed to offer a system, which although lacked in certain respects, was as a whole matchless in its extent.

fate or determinism and say this was all planned out from the beginning of time knowing some things in nature happen randomly--

When a state of probability remains undetermined, we often feel compelled to define it. We desire certainty, so we obtain it through whichever way we see fit, even when it is unattainable or harmful to do so. When we imagine

* Reasonably possible: The chance of the future event or events occurring is more than remote but less than likely.

But natural selection is not random Another confusing argument you may hear from a pro-evolutionist is the idea that evolution is in fact not random, and is not due to chance. They argue that evolution through natural selection is actually not chance at all. The reason being is that natural selection is in simple terms, survival of the fittest. It is logical.

By “survival of the fittest,” Carnegie means that the most capable people will succeed and prosper, while the others fail. He is promoting the idea of Social Darwinism, the belief that wealth is a measure of one’s inherent value and those who had it were the “most fit.”

Rather than this result occurring at almost every

can always be true to. Gergen’s research has led him to believe those assumptions are false. He

In what he called the ‘survival of the fittest’, Darwin suggested that through the process of natural selection animals with particular characteristics, as a result of possessing advantageous alleles, will survive. However, those with maladaptive genes cannot adapt to changes in environmental conditions, so will die or become extinct. Dowling (1994) stated that this process depends on three principles: species diversity, interaction and the spread of a species as a result of differential amplification. Sexual selection is another component of Darwin’s research, which explains the best strategies adopted for passing on genes to offspring. Moreover, there are problems with Darwin’s theory such as his attempts to generalise animal behaviour to the way in which humans interact in their environment. However, he has presented compelling evidence which is very scientific in its approach and methodology. Furthermore, contrary to Darwin’s evolutionary idea of survival of an individual, Dawkins (1976) suggested that the survival of the genes is more important.

In any series of random events an extraordinary event is most likely to be followed, due purely to chance, by a more ordinary one.

Chance is a very interesting concept. The belief things happen unknowingly and by mere luck. In the play chance is over shadowed by fate, a pre-determined destiny. A prime example of

“On Friday noon, July twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travellers into the gulf below.” This tragedy led Brother Juniper, a Franciscan from Italy, to seek an answer to whether or not fate is completely random or if it is controlled by a higher power. However, as Thornton Wilder once stated, “the business of literature is not to answer questions, but to state them fairly,” the inquiry is never revealed, only left to flourish in the reader’s minds for many years to come. Speculation may lead individuals to pursue an answer for themselves, yet an answer is nearly impossible to find. Even knowing that an answer is unreachable, individuals still possess their own beliefs about fate. One may personally believe that fate is neither random or destined, but controlled completely by the individual.

Darwin's survival of the fittest was a strong belief Roosevelt held and theorized all life followed the ideas of natural selection. Natural selection and survival of the fittest are theories that the strong will naturally survive by both, eliminating the weak and having greater likelyhood to pass on.

This quote by Aristotle was taken from ‘Aristotle: a Very Short Introduction’ and there is no-one of whom this is more true than Aristotle as he was dedicated to every possible discipline he could sink his teeth into making him one of the utmost key figures within philosophy, not only in classical philosophy but he is still regarded as influential in modern philosophy.

Everything in life happens for a reason and nothing happens by happenstance, chance or luck. I