目的論 Teleology

 目的論 Teleology

●例句（約165 words，字源放在句首）

Teleology, a term that the German philosopher Christian Wolff coined in 1728 from the Greek telos, meaning "end" or "completion", and logos, meaning "discourse", names the view that things are to be explained by the purposes they serve rather than solely by the causes that precede them, a view which Aristotle, for whom a full explanation must include the final cause, applied to living things and falling stones alike, and which, much as it dominated medieval thought, lost ground in the seventeenth century, when mechanists, having banished purpose from physics, came to treat it as a mere projection of human desire, a verdict that Darwin seemed to extend to biology by showing how natural selection, though blind to the future, produces features that look designed; yet the more biologists insist that such features have no goal, the more they find themselves speaking, for all their caution, as though organisms had goals, which is why many prefer "teleonomy", a word coined in 1958 for apparent purpose that requires no foresight.

●排列為比較容易閱讀的方式

Teleology,

a term

that the German philosopher Christian Wolff coined in 1728

from the Greek telos,

meaning "end" or "completion",

and logos,

meaning "discourse",

names the view

that things are to be explained

by the purposes they serve

rather than solely by the causes

that precede them,

a view

which Aristotle,

for whom a full explanation must include the final cause,

applied to living things and falling stones alike,

and which,

much as it dominated medieval thought,

lost ground in the seventeenth century,

when mechanists,

having banished purpose from physics,

came to treat it as a mere projection of human desire,

a verdict

that Darwin seemed to extend to biology

by showing

how natural selection,

though blind to the future,

produces features

that look designed;

yet the more biologists insist

that such features have no goal,

the more they find themselves speaking,

for all their caution,

as though organisms had goals,

which is why many prefer "teleonomy",

a word coined in 1958

for apparent purpose

that requires no foresight.

●分解為原初的短小句

Teleology names the view.（主結構，4字。主詞後插入約三十個字的字源說明，必須讀到 names 才看到動詞。）

Christian Wolff coined the term in 1728.

Wolff was a German philosopher.

He coined it from the Greek telos and logos.

Telos means "end" or "completion".

Logos means "discourse".

The view holds that things are to be explained by the purposes they serve.

The view does not explain things solely by the causes that precede them.

Aristotle applied the view to living things and falling stones alike.

For Aristotle, a full explanation must include the final cause.

The view dominated medieval thought.

It lost ground in the seventeenth century nonetheless.

Mechanists had banished purpose from physics.

They came to treat purpose as a mere projection of human desire.

Darwin seemed to extend this verdict to biology.

He showed how natural selection produces features that look designed.

Natural selection is blind to the future.

Biologists insist that such features have no goal.

They find themselves speaking as though organisms had goals.

They do so despite their caution.

Many therefore prefer the word "teleonomy".

The word was coined in 1958.

It describes apparent purpose that requires no foresight.

●文法解析

主句：Teleology…names the view that…。主詞之後是同位語 a term that…，其中 that 關係子句的受詞 that 省略不見，語序是 that Wolff coined，coined 的受詞（the term）前置，要讀到 coined 才完整。from 後並列兩個希臘字，各帶 meaning 分詞片語，and logos 必須接回 from。

the view that things are to be explained…：that 引導同位語子句，說明 the view 的內容。are to be explained 是 be to + 被動，表「應當」。

by the purposes they serve：purposes 後省略關係代名詞 that，they serve 是限定修飾。rather than solely by…：rather than 連接兩個介係詞片語，意為「而不是」。

a view which Aristotle, for whom…, applied…, and which, much as…, lost ground：同位語 a view 帶兩個以 and 對等的關係子句。第一個 which 是 applied 的受詞，第二個 which 是 lost 的主詞。

for whom a full explanation must include the final cause：介係詞 + whom，for 屬於後面子句，意為「對亞里斯多德而言」。

much as it dominated medieval thought：much as 引導讓步子句，意為「儘管……（很大程度上）」，不是比較。

when mechanists, having banished purpose from physics, came to treat it as…：when 是非限定關係副詞，補充說明 the seventeenth century。having banished 是完成式分詞片語，表示比 came to treat 更早。treat A as B 是固定句型。

a verdict that Darwin seemed to extend…：a verdict 是前面整個動作的同位語，指「把目的視為投射」這項判斷。seem to + 原形動詞，表「似乎」。

by showing how natural selection, though blind to the future, produces…：how 子句當 showing 的受詞，though blind to the future 是省略「it is」的讓步子句，插在主詞與動詞之間。features that look designed 中，designed 是過去分詞當補語，look 是連綴動詞。

the more biologists insist…, the more they find themselves speaking：the + 比較級…，the + 比較級…，意為「越……越……」。find oneself + 現在分詞，意為「發現自己不知不覺在……」。

for all their caution：for all 意為「儘管」，後接名詞。as though organisms had goals：as though 後用過去式，表與事實相反的假設語氣。

which is why many prefer…：which 指前面整段內容，why 引導表語子句，意為「這就是為什麼」。a word coined in 1958 for…：過去分詞片語，for 表「用來指稱」，後接 that 關係子句。

●參考譯文

「目的論」一詞由德國哲學家沃爾夫於1728年造出，取自希臘文 telos 與 logos，telos 指「終點」或「完成」，logos 指「論述」。它指的是這樣的主張：事物應當由它們所服務的目的來解釋，而不只是由先行的原因來解釋。亞里斯多德認為完整的解釋必須包含目的因，並把這個主張用在生物與落石上。中世紀思想雖大體以它為主導，十七世紀時它卻逐漸失勢，機械論者先把目的逐出物理學，進而把目的看成人類欲望的單純投射。達爾文似乎把這項判決延伸到生物學：他說明了盲目於未來的天擇，如何產生看似經過設計的特徵。然而生物學家越是堅稱這些特徵沒有目標，就越發現自己在不知不覺間，儘管小心，仍說得好像生物有目標一樣。這正是許多人偏好「目的性」（teleonomy）一詞的原因，這個詞1958年造出，指稱不需要預見的表面目的。

●補充說明

teleologia 一詞通常歸給沃爾夫（Christian Wolff）1728年的《哲學論》，這是通行說法，部分文獻對最早用例仍有討論。telos 與 teleios「完整的」同源，所以 telos 兼有「終點」與「完成」兩層意思，句中兩個譯詞都保留。

Aristotle 的四因說（質料因、形式因、動力因、目的因）是 final cause 的出處，句中說 a full explanation must include…，指他的主張是完整解釋必須包含目的因。

teleonomy 由 Colin Pittendrigh 於1958年提出，後來被 Ernst Mayr 等人推廣，用來指由演化歷史形成、看似有目的的特徵。這個區分是否真能避開目的語言，學界有爭議，所以句中用 apparent purpose 與 many prefer，不寫成定論。

康德在《判斷力批判》把目的論當作理解生物時的「調節性原則」，是延伸閱讀的入口。

這一句的文法重點與前兩篇不同：the more…the more…、much as 讓步、having banished 完成式分詞、as though 假設語氣、for all 讓步、which is why 表語子句。

●長難句組合寫作練習

不看例句，用譯文與上列23個短句組合回原來的長句：

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