Full Idea
Theophrastus questioned Aristotle's teaching on the extent to which teleological explanations could be applied to the natural world.
Clarification
'Teleological' explanations are in terms of purposes
Gist of Idea
Theophrastus doubted whether nature could be explained teleologically
Source
report of Theophrastus (On Metaphysics (frags) [c.320 BCE]) by H.B. Gottschalk - Aristotelianism
Book Reference
'Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy', ed/tr. Zeyl,Donald J. [Fitzroy Dearborn 1997], p.62
A Reaction
It is interesting to see that Aristotle's own immediate successor had doubts about teleology. We usually assume that the ancients were teleological, and this was rejected in the seventeenth century (e.g. Idea 4826).
Related Idea
Idea 4826 Nature has no particular goal in view, and final causes are mere human figments [Spinoza]