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Full Idea
All final causes are nothing but human fictions.
Gist of Idea
Final causes are figments of human imagination
Source
Baruch de Spinoza (The Ethics [1675], IApp)
Book Ref
Spinoza,Benedict de: 'Ethics', ed/tr. White,WH/Stirling,AH [Wordsworth 2001], p.37
A Reaction
You can see why Spinoza was rather controversial in the late seventeenth century, when he says things as bold as this, even though he is echoing Descartes. The latter's proposal (Idea 12730) is methodological, whereas this idea is metaphysical.
Related Idea
Idea 12730 We will not try to understand natural or divine ends, or final causes [Descartes]
| 5990 | Theophrastus doubted whether nature could be explained teleologically [Theophrastus, by Gottschalk] |
| 5878 | Eyes could be used for a natural purpose, or for unnatural seeing, or for a non-seeing activity [Aristotle] |
| 12044 | Only Epicurus denied purpose in nature, for the whole world, or for its parts [Epicurus, by Annas] |
| 12125 | Teleological accounts are fine in metaphysics, but they stop us from searching for the causes [Bacon] |
| 12730 | We will not try to understand natural or divine ends, or final causes [Descartes] |
| 1588 | For Spinoza eyes don't act for purposes, but follow mechanical necessity [Roochnik on Spinoza] |
| 1587 | Spinoza strongly attacked teleology, which is the lifeblood of classical logos [Roochnik on Spinoza] |
| 12731 | Final causes are figments of human imagination [Spinoza] |
| 7648 | The sun and rain weren't made for us; they sometimes burn us, or spoil our seeds [La Mettrie] |
| 7195 | If the world aimed at an end, it would have reached it by now [Nietzsche] |
| 2905 | 'Purpose' is just a human fiction [Nietzsche] |
| 5308 | The only human purpose is that created by our genetic history [Wilson,EO] |
| 3504 | Chemistry entirely explains plant behaviour [Searle] |
| 5501 | People are trying to explain biological teleology in naturalistic causal terms [Lycan] |