Entelechy — Folks have asked me for a definition of the title of this blog, SDC — defined — "entelechy, n.". OED Online. December 2020. Oxford University Press. https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/62796?redirectedFrom=entelechy (accessed December 23, 2020).
entelechy, n.
Forms: Also 1600s entelechie, entelech; 1500s in Greek form entelecheia; 1600s–1800s in Latin entelechia.(Show Less)
Frequency (in current use): Show frequency band information
Etymology: < Greek ἐντελέχεια, < ἐν + τέλει, dative of τέλος perfection + ἔχειν to have.
Philosophy.
1. In Aristotle's use: The realization or complete expression of some function; the condition in which a potentiality has become an actuality.
1603 J. Florio tr. M. de Montaigne Ess. ii. xii. 314 Aristotle..calleth [the soul] Entelechy, or perfection mooving of it selfe.
1652 J. Smith Select Disc. x. 500 Wickedness is the form and entelech of all the wicked spirits.
1656 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. II. vi. 69 The soul is the first entelechie of a naturall organicall body, having life potentially.
1837 W. Whewell tr. Aristotle in Hist. Inductive Sci. I. 57 The Entelechy, or act, of a moveable body.
1842 Sir W. Hamilton in Reid's Wks. I. 202/2 (note) Aristotle defines the soul, the Form or Entelechy of an organized body.
1850 F. D. Maurice Moral & Metaphysical Philos. (ed. 2) I. 194 Motion is the entelechy (the perfecting power or principle) of the potential as potential.
2. In various applied senses (apparently due to misconceptions of Aristotle's meaning): (a) that which gives perfection to anything; the informing spirit; (b) the soul itself, as opposed to the body.
1603 S. Harsnett Declar. Popish Impostures 5 When his Holiness the King of Spaine and Parsons theyr Entelechie were plotting beyond the seas.
a1652 J. Smith Select Disc. (1660) iv. viii. 107 He seems to make it [sc. the soul] nothing else..but an Entelechia or Informative thing.
1652 T. Urquhart Εκσκυβαλαυρον 112 The purest parts of the separated entelechies of blessed Saints.
1659 J. Shirley Honoria & Mammon i. i Soul..that bright entelecheia Which separates them from beasts.
3. The name given by Leibniz to the monads of his system.
1877 E. Caird Crit. Acct. Philos. Kant Introd. v. 92 It is better to give the general name of monads or entelechies to those simple substances that have only perception.
posted by Samuel D. Conti (SDC) @ 6:55 PM
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