By Harry Binswanger
Written for The Monist, a journal of philosophy, this article examines the nature of goal-directed action (or teleology).
Dr. Binswanger methodically demonstrates that there is an inescapable connection between life and goals, i.e., that the actions of living organisms—even non-conscious ones—are goal-directed, while the actions of inanimate objects are not.
In the second half of the essay, he explains and defends Ayn Rand's validation of man's life as the standard of morality, showing how her analysis of the genetic roots of the concept "value" integrates with his thesis on teleology.
(Booklet; 21 pages)
