134 SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE ORGANISM 



further analysis. You might say perhaps that only the 

 processes of regulation ought to be called " teleological," 

 i.e. only the processes leading from abnormal states to 

 normality ; but would it not be quite unjustified to refuse 

 the name to the processes of normal embryology, which 

 indeed on account of the different kinds of harmony 

 existing between them seem to promote the existence of the 

 organic bodies in the highest degree ? Their existence 

 as such therefore is to be regarded as nature's purpose 

 existence here to include all regulation of disturbances of 

 normality. 



And now let us make the last step in our application 

 of the term " teleological " in its relation to processes 

 occurring in natural bodies. All processes contributing to 

 the construction of any kind of engines and machines made 

 by man are purposeful, for they are actions of men. The 

 machines themselves we have called merely " useful," but 

 all the different processes that occur in such engines or 

 machines when they are " working " are also purposeful. 

 There is no difficulty, I believe, in understanding this sort 

 of teleology, which appears in inorganic bodies belonging 

 to the class of so-called artefacts, for it simply is part 

 of the definition of a machine that it shall by its work- 

 ing serve some purpose of man. Thus purposefulness of 

 machines is in the last resort the mere outcome of the 

 teleology of acting. But it is important that the concept 

 " teleological " has been thus transferred to inorganic events. 



Let us not lose sight of the real character of the present 

 discussion. We have only tried to answer the question : 

 What sort of natural processes may be denoted by the 

 predicate teleological ? We have done nothing but this 



