‘Do Living things have an Agenda?’ is Part Eight of our ‘Life’ Series
In this post, ‘Do living things have an agenda?’, we continue our series on “Life” and our discussion of the ideas in Andy Pross‘s recent book, “What is Life?”.
Pross describes the teleonomic character of life as its most amazing property. But what is teleonomy?
Teleonomy
Wikipedia’s definition: “Teleonomy is the quality of apparent purposefulness and of goal-directedness of structures and functions in living organisms brought about by natural processes like natural selection“.
The Wikipedia article goes on to explain that: “Teleonomy is thought to derive from evolutionary history, adaptation for reproductive success, and/or the operation of a program. Teleonomy is related to programmatic or computational aspects of purpose”. The article explains the difference between ‘teleonomy’ and ‘teleology’; they are not the same!
This teleonomy of living things leads Pross to say: “… both the structure and the behaviour of all living things lead to an unambiguous and unavoidable conclusion – living things have an ‘agenda’. Living things act on their own behalf”.
Opinions on Teleonomy
As the Wikipedia article on teleonomy indicates, the concept of teleonomy is not simple. Several deep thinkers and experts on matters relating to teleonomy have contributed to the subject, some are quoted in the Wikipedia article. For example: Colin Pittendrigh, Ernst Mayr, Richard Dawkins, George C. Williams, Jacques Monod, Ernest Nagel, David Hull, etc.
Colin Pittendrigh
According to the web site https://www.informationphilosopher.com, Pittendrigh’s great contribution to the philosophy of biology was the “… first use of the term “teleonomy” to distinguish the appearance of purpose in biological evolution, specifically Darwinian natural selection, from the ancient idea of “teleology,” Aristotle’s “telos” or “final cause,” a cosmic purpose pre-existing the appearance of life.” This site quotes Pittendrigh as follows:
“Today the concept of adaptation is beginning to enjoy an improved respectability for several reasons: it is seen as less than perfect; natural selection is better understood; and the engineer-physicist in building end-seeking automata has sanctified the use of teleological jargon. It seems unfortunate that the term ‘teleology’ should be resurrected and, as I think, abused in this way. The biologists’ long-standing confusion would be more fully removed” if “all end-directed systems were described by some other term, like ‘teleonomic’, in order to emphasize that the recognition and description of end-directedness does not carry a commitment to Aristotelian teleology as an efficient [sic] casual principle.
Adaptation, Natural Selection, and Behavior, in Anne Roe and George Gaylord Simpson (eds.), Behavior and Evolution (New Haven, 1958), 390-416.,”
Jacques Monod
It is useful to consider Monod‘s Opinion on the matter of teleonomy. The reference to Monod by www.informationphilosopher.com is worth studying. It begins by referencing Jacques Monod’s 1970 book, which is discussed in the English language Wikipedia article: “Chance and Necessity“.
Ernst Mayr
Mayr contributed to the teleonomy discussion with his paper in 1974, “Teleological and Teleonomic, a New Analysis“. This paper appears in the collection of papers “Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol XIV”.
Wikipedia Article on Monod’s Book
The Wikipedia article, Chance and Necessity, summarises Monod’s first chapter, Of strange objects, and at the end of this summary makes the observation: “Here the author restates that nature is objective and does not pursue an end or have a purpose and he points out an apparent “epistemological [the study of the origin, nature, methods, and limits of human knowledge] contradiction” between the teleonomic character of living organisms and the principle of objectivity. With that cliffhanger of internal intellectual struggle Monod ends chapter one.”
Suffice to say, a study of teleonomy and the nature of life would not be complete without reading Monod’s thoughts on teleonomy found within his original book, “Le Hasard et la Necessite“, or its English translation.
Ernest Nagel
Nagel contributed to the debate in 1977 with his paper, “Goal-Directed Processes in Biology“.
David Hull
Hull contributed to the discussion on teleonomy in his paper, “Philosophy of Biological Science“
Recent Discussion on Teleonomy
There has been more recent discussion on the topic of teleonomy. For example Chelsea Ekwughalu published a paper, “War of the Words: Teleology vs. Teleonomy in Biological Cognition“, in the Columbia Undergraduate Science Journal.
In conclusion, Ekwughalu’s paper’s penultimate paragraph seems particularly pertinent to the debate:
“Although many cognitive scientists acknowledge that the question of exactly how human cognition is produced by the brain is a difficult, unsolved problem, they are skeptical of all forms of teleology due to how ingrained anti-teleological sentiment is in biology circles—and for good reason. Teleology can inspire hypotheses about the origin of specific traits and help students understand new topics as long as it remains metaphorical. However, since Ancient Greece, teleology has been associated with everything from the philosophical idea that the universe is a living organism to the idea that humans are designed to be moral creatures (Galli & Meinardi, 2010). If teleology is used without limitations, students and teachers will have a difficult time distinguishing useful teleonomic thoughts that act as metaphors from sketchy, teleological hypotheses that assume an equivalence between humans and other organisms (Dresow & Love, 2023). “
Ekwughalu then concludes the paper as follows:
“In order to simplify biology education and emphasize the differences between biological processes and human cognition, teleological thinking must be reframed as an extensive metaphor and understood as teleonomy. By doing so, students can better understand and appreciate the complexity of living organisms without imposing human-like goals and characteristics onto them. This reframing will help foster a more reliable understanding of biological systems while respecting the unique complexities that shape human behavior and cognition.”
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[Post written on 20/06/2025]