teloi

Teloi is the plural of telos, from the Greek τελος meaning end, purpose, or goal. In philosophy, teloi are the ends toward which actions, beings, or processes are directed; they are the ends that give meaning and direction to practical reasoning and natural phenomena. The study of teloi is central to teleology, the view that natural things are oriented toward ends.

In Aristotle's teleology, natural substances have intrinsic ends that explain their form and function; for example, the telos of a seed is to become a mature plant. He argued that acknowledging teloi helps explain why things exist in particular forms and how they develop toward their natural purposes. This angle treats purpose as an explanatory feature of nature rather than as a projection of human aims.

In ethics, human telos is often linked to flourishing or eudaimonia, and actions or institutions are assessed by how well they promote that telos. In contemporary science, explicit teleology is controversial; biology typically describes functions rather than conscious purposes and uses teleonomy to account for apparent goal-directedness through natural selection.

The term remains useful in discussions of value and purpose in philosophy, law, and political theory, but is usually distinguished from metaphysical claims about final causes. See also telos, teleology, eudaimonia, and teleonomy.