The preference for bottom up explanations is sometimes grounded in the idea that only these can explain the "causal chain of events" undergirding phenomena. — Count Timothy von Icarus
Unfortunately, all of us world observers are physically limited to seeing open-ended "chains" of events without beginnings or endings. Admittedly, we star-gazing homo sapiens, having emerged in the middle of the story of cosmic evolution, can physically see only the mid-range links in the chain of change. But some of us curious creatures are un-satisfied with our physical limitations, so we engage our metaphysical powers (reason) in order to expand our view to see over the horizon.
For example, by combining current observations with rational imagination, astronomers were able to construct a hypothetical model of the sudden beginning of the space-time continuum. And yet, that based-on-actual-events fictional picture of a Big Bang is necessarily fuzzy, and subject to various interpretations. Likewise, ancient philosophers, sans telescopes, traced their historical chain-of-events back toward the beginning, and inferred the logical necessity for a First Link. Consequently, they also deduced the necessity for a Final Link in a mechanical causal process that shows no signs of being self-existent.
The philosophers seem to think in terms of whole systems, while the mechanists are content to deal only with the parts of the system that come readily to hand. So, teleology is a holistic worldview, while teleonomy is a more narrowly-focused cosmology. Unfortunately, the rigidly-hierarchical unitary perspective is now associated with some disreputable behaviors by the human rulers of top-heavy imperial religions in the past. Therefore, those who have suffered the abuses of centralized power, are wary of heavy-handed top-down command ; apparently preferring the vagaries of a piecemeal fragmented process of cosmic construction.
But, what if adamant law-based top-down Design is combined with the freedom of bottom-up Exploration of options (descent with modifications). That's what Darwin observed in his theory of a deterministic Selection Algorithm choosing from among indeterminate Randomized Options. Since the origins of the evolutionary chain are shrouded in the mists of obscure events, maybe semi-autonomous Teleonomy is more apt than autocratic Teleology to describe the wandering world-system we experience.
Teleology vs Teleonomy :
By “decomposing” the universe into free-floating chunks, materialists can more easily avoid dealing with indications of Teleology in evolution. “The idea would be to eliminate the more robust commonsense notion of function and replace it with a deflationist theoretical conception – to replace teleology with teleonomy”. Teleonomy is future-oriented only in retrospect, not in prospect. However, for higher holistic organisms, teleological intention is a sign of rational, self-interested behavior. However, in altruistic humans, self-interest includes the interests of the community as a whole, and loved-ones in particular. That’s why Feser raises the “explanatory gap” in science regarding the emergence of Life, Consciousness, and Rationality. “The Aristotelian holds that sentient life is irreducible to merely vegetative life . . . . And the Aristotelian holds that rational life is irreducible to mere sentience”. That’s because those holistic functions are more-than the sum of their parts. The emergence of a new whole system (or sub-system; or holon) is always accompanied by novel properties and functions.
https://bothandblog6.enformationism.info/page76.html
PS___ Those who, like Ed Feser, argue in favor of top-down Teleology --- read by Atheists as "Theology" --- like to use the term "irreducible", because their concept of cosmology is Holistic instead of Reductionistic. Yet, Holism seems anachronistic (e.g. New Age) to those whose worldview began in 17th century Europe with Mechanism & Materialism. So, in order to dodge that anti-religion bias, I'm willing to use the tepid term Teleonomy, to keep the discussion on a philosophical plane.
