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entelechy
[ en-tel-uh-kee ]
noun
- a realization or actuality as opposed to a potentiality.
- (in vitalist philosophy) a vital agent or force directing growth and life.
entelechy
/ ɛnˈtɛlɪkɪ /
noun
- (in the philosophy of Aristotle) actuality as opposed to potentiality
- (in the system of Leibnitz) the soul or principle of perfection of an object or person; a monad or basic constituent
- something that contains or realizes a final cause, esp the vital force thought to direct the life of an organism
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Other Words From
- en·te·lech·i·al [en-t, uh, -, lek, -ee-, uh, l], adjective
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Word History and Origins
Origin of entelechy1
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Word History and Origins
Origin of entelechy1
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Example Sentences
Shall we say with Aristotle, that the soul is the entelechy or form of an organized living body?
In particular, he picked out the Aristotelian "entelechy" to stop a gap in the philosophy of his own age.'
Entelechy was a useful name for X, the more so as it had the authority of Aristotle, the master of scholasticism.
We could regard what is called catalysis solely as an agent in the service of entelechy.
Let us again apply the name entelechy to that which lies at the very beginning of all individual morphogenesis.
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