endness

Endness is a term used to describe the property or quality of being oriented toward an end, final purpose, or termination point. It denotes the degree to which a process, system, or narrative aims at a terminal state rather than remaining ongoing or indeterminate. The word is a neologism formed from end and the suffix -ness, and it appears in contemporary discussions across philosophy, literary theory, and design disciplines rather than as a standard technical term in any single field.

In philosophy and ethics, endness is associated with teleology—the view that explanations center on ends or purposes. Discussions of endness examine whether actions are justified by their ultimate aims, and how much weight is given to final causes versus efficient causes.

In narrative theory, endness refers to how strongly a plot is organized around its conclusion, and how clearly the story converges toward a final outcome, resolution of tensions, or revelation.

In systems theory and engineering, endness can describe the extent to which a system is engineered to reach a target state or to terminate its operation in a controlled way, including convergence criteria, termination conditions, or end states in optimization problems.

In theology and eschatology, endness may be used to discuss beliefs about ultimate ends of history, human purposes, or afterlife outcomes.

Critics warn that endness risks imposing teleological assumptions on natural processes or narratives where final causes are not appropriate or knowable. As such, endness is largely a descriptive and comparative concept rather than a universal standard. Related concepts include teleology, final cause, telos, narrative arc, and termination conditions.