Te`le*ol"o*gy (?), n. [Gr. , teleos, the end or issue + -logy: cf. F. t'el'eologie.]
The doctrine of the final causes of things
; specif.
Biol.,
the doctrine of design, which assumes that the phenomena of organic life, particularly those of evolution, are explicable only by purposive causes, and that they in no way admit of a mechanical explanation or one based entirely on biological science; the doctrine of adaptation to purpose.
© Webster 1913.