Teleology is the philosophical idea that things have purposes or goals that explain why they are the way they are. It often involves explaining events or features by the ends they serve, rather than just by their causes.
It comes from Greek 'telos' meaning 'end, goal, or purpose' and '-logia' meaning 'study of'. The term was developed in modern philosophy to discuss purpose-driven explanations.
When someone says 'eyes evolved so we could see', they’re speaking teleologically—explaining by purpose rather than by random variation and selection. Our brains are so hungry for purpose that we often see 'what it’s for' even in things that just happened to survive.
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