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This volume explores the intuitive yet puzzling concept of teleology as it has been treated by philosophers from the time of Plato and Aristotle to the present day. Philosophical discussions are enlivened and contextualized by reflections on the implications of teleology in medicine, art, poetry, and music.
List of contents
- Introduction - Jeffrey K. McDonough
- 1. Plato's Teleology - Thomas Kjeller Johansen
- 2. Teleology in Aristotle - Mariska Leunissen
- Reflection I: Teleology and Function in Galenic Anatomy - Patricia Marechal
- 3. Avicenna on Teleology: Final Causation and Goodness - Kara Richardson
- 4. Teleology in the Later Middle Ages - Robert Pasnau
- Reflection II: Teleology in Cimabue's Apocalypse Murals at Assisi - Holly Flora
- 5. Teleology in Jewish Philosophy: Early Talmudists to Spinoza - Yitzhak Melamed
- 6. Not Dead Yet: Teleology and the Scientific Revolution - Jeffrey McDonough
- Reflection III: The End of Poetry: Teleology in Philip Sidney's Sonnets - Kathryn Murphy
- 7. The Revised Method of Physico-Theology: Kant's Reformed Teleology - Paul Guyer
- 8. Hegel: The Reality and Priority of Immanent Teleology - James Kreines
- Reflection IV: Decoding the Teleology of Jazz - Anna Harwell Celenza
- 9. Contemporary Teleology - Patrick Forber
About the author
Jeffrey K. McDonough is Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University. He has written numerous articles on philosophy in the early modern era. He is currently working on a book project on the philosophical implications of G. W. Leibniz's work in optics and mechanics.
Summary
This volume explores the intuitive yet puzzling concept of teleology as it has been treated by philosophers from the time of Plato and Aristotle to the present day. Philosophical discussions are enlivened and contextualized by reflections on the implications of teleology in medicine, art, poetry, and music.
