The term teleology refers to the doctrine that things in nature have a

The term teleology refers to the doctrine that things in nature have a final purpose. Thus, an eye is for seeing, a walk for health, a house for shelter, and a book for reading. Little t teleology so conceived, though, mustn’t be confused with big t Teleology, according to which the whole of nature is either progressing, by virtue of some world-historical or cosmic force, toward some overarching purpose or is already the embodiment of some divine plan.

That teleology needn’t entail Teleology is a cornerstone of evolutionary theory. From the moment that organic life first appeared on Earth some 4.5 billion years ago, natural selection has been an inexorable, unceasing, and entirely mindless process of winnowing and sifting through a set of design plans. The geological record is littered with plant and animal species falling extinct under the pressures of climatic and geographical changes. Only those designs that natural selection has blindly hit upon and that have worked, designs that are well adapted to the specific environment and that therefore confer upon certain organisms or certain species some ostensible advantage, will be inheritable by their progeny. This implies that there is no Higher End, no Higher Purpose that governs the actions of intelligent and unintelligent life, only local purposes fitting into the materialist picture of “selfish genes” seeking to pass on genetic information to their descendants ad infinitum. There is therefore no Teleology from on high, only teleology all the way down.

1. According to the passage, the principal difference between teleology and Teleology could be understood in terms of the difference between

A. quality and quantity
B. example and concept
C. property and object
D. cause and effect
E. part and whole


2. The primary purpose of the passage is to show how

A. new species come into being through a process called natural selection
B. evolution represents a change in our comprehension of all forms of life
C. evolution through a set of randomly generated, rather than intentional, procedures is possible
D. intelligent and sentient creatures are the inevitable results of natural selection
E. absolute ignorance works to create living beings much in the same way that absolute wisdom does


3. Which of the following does the passage cite as a component of evolutionary theory?

I. the fact that Teleology is not necessary for teleology
II. the extinctions of many species
III. the lack of a Higher Purpose for living organisms’ behavior

A. I Only
B. III Only
C. I and III Only
D. II and III Only
E. I, II, and III