Entelechy

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Entelechy is a philosophical concept of Aristotle. The term traces to the Ancient Greek word entelecheia, from the combination of the Greek words enteles (complete), telos (end, purpose, completion) and echein (to have). Aristotle coined the word, which could possibly be translated in English as, "having the end within itself." To Aristotle, entelecheia referred to a certain state or sort of being, in which a thing was actively working to be itself. See Metaphysics, where it is contrasted with energeia.

To use Latinate translations, the word denotes actuality or realization as opposed to potentiality. However, the terms actuality and realization should not be taken to imply that an entelecheia is inert or completed, but that the entelecheia is in some way actively being itself.

In some philosophical systems, it may denote a force propelling one to self-fulfillment. This concept occupies a central position in the metaphysics of Leibniz, and is closely related to his monadology. Each sentient entity contains its own entire universe within it, in a sense. Each sentient entity is a monad, an absolutely independent thing that has no contact with any other sentient entity except through the mediating agency of God.

In the biological beliefs known as vitalism living things are animated by an entelechy according to Hans Driesch.