Entelechies

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A term referring to the realization of potential or the state of being fully realized in essence and purpose; it encompasses the concept of fulfillment and completion in philosophical discourse
2. Describing the condition of something that has reached its final form, embodying the potential within that has come into being; it pertains to the philosophical idea of completion and actuality
3. Relating to a state or existence where potential is fully actualized and brought to fruition; it captures the essence of completeness and purpose in a given context

Etymology: "Entelechies" is the plural of "entelechy," and the singular is the more interesting story. Aristotle coined the Greek word "entelekheia" by fusing "entelēs," meaning complete or finished, with "echō," meaning to have. Its literal sense is something like "having its end within itself." The "telos" buried in "entelēs" is the same root that gives us "teleology," the study of purpose or final causes. For Aristotle, the term described the way a thing realises its nature. A seed contains the completed plant in potential, and the plant is the seed's fulfilment, the point where it has become what it was always aiming to be. The word thus joined an idea about purpose to the idea of actuality, and it stayed a technical term of philosophy for centuries. It passed into Late Latin as "entelechia," and from there into English, where it has remained largely a philosophical and scholarly term. Later thinkers, such as the biologist Hans Driesch, revived it for a vital force guiding living organisms, which gave it a second life beyond Aristotle's metaphysics.