Teleological explanation of action

From Geography

The teleological explanation of action is based on the explorations of 'teleology' by Aristotle. The word teleology is derived from the word 'Telos', which means the goal. So a teleological explanation of action is 'goal-oriented'-action. An action happens because it is related to a goal, basically.

A formal description of the teleological action-theory

• Subject X wants to reach goal Y (for instance, Mark Rutte (X) wants to get to his destination of the 'tweede kamer' (Y))
• Subject X thinks that Z means are good to reach goal Y (Mark Rutte (X) thinks that riding the bike (Z) would be the best way to get to his work)
• Subject X does Z (Mark Rutte (X) rides the bike (Z))
• With the consequence Y, as well as the consequence P and Q (Mark Rutte (X) attains his goal of getting to his destination (Y), but on the way he also ran into Geert Wilders (P) and enjoyed a great view of the sunrise (Q))

References

Aristotle. The organon and other works. Retrieved from http://archive.org/details/AristotleOrganon

Contributors

Page created and edited by Lars-Olof Haverkort --LarsHaverkort 15:07, 17 October 2012 (CEST)