final cause

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final cause

(Philosophy) Philosophy the end or purpose of a thing or process, as opposed to its efficient cause See cause [7]

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Noun

final cause - (philosophy) the end or purpose of a thing or process

aim, intent, intention, purpose, design - an anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions; "his intent was to provide a new translation"; "good intentions are not enough"; "it was created with the conscious aim of answering immediate needs"; "he made no secret of his designs"

philosophy - the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and ethics

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aim
design
dysteleology
efficient cause
entelechy

finalism
intent
intention
philosophy
teleology

For what every being is in its most perfect state, that certainly is the nature of that being, whether it be a man, a horse, or a house: besides, whatsoever produces the final cause and the end which we

A Treatise on Government by Aristotle View in context

He might dissect, anatomize, and give names; but, not to speak of a final cause, causes in their secondary and tertiary grades were utterly unknown to him.

Frankenstein by Shelley, Mary View in context

Browning might say, as his wife said in an early preface, I never mistook pleasure for the final cause of poetry, nor leisure for the hour of the poet--as indeed he has himself said, to much the same effect, in a letter printed many years ago: I never pretended to offer such literature as should be a substitute for a cigar or a game at dominoes to an idle man.

The Guardian by Pater, Walter Horatio View in context

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