Elemental Teleology in Physics II.8

This text puts forward an interpretation of Physics II.8 which limits Aristotle's teleology to the animate world. Aristotle's brief discussion of rainfall in II.8 provides insight into just how extensive his teleology was meant to be. By being located in only those events which involve animate substances, Aristotle's final cause retains potency without creating a world in which all events are teleological. The grounds for this interpretation will be an elemental teleology which affirms that the only final cause of the movements of the elements is the goal of reaching their proper places of rest. Textual evidence for the presence of this doctrine in Aristotle s thought is thoroughly examined in the first two thirds of this text. Arguments are offered to prove that the interpretation put forward in this work is not only possible but preferable to any reading which extends teleology into the realm of inanimate natural phenomena.

Autorentext
Caleb Kinlaw received his BA in Philosophy from Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts. He received a Master of Science degree in Ancient Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh where he studied under Inna Kupreeva. He currently teaches at a classical school in Louisville, Kentucky.