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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/15/boris-johnson-teleological-construction-steven-poole
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| Version 3 | Version 4 |
|---|---|
| What does Boris Johnson mean by a ‘teleological construction’? | What does Boris Johnson mean by a ‘teleological construction’? |
| (7 months later) | |
| The British public has been gratefully exposed to almost every conceivable way of insulting the EU, but Boris Johnson has offered a novel one. Johnson, who gave a key speech on Brexit this week, calls the EU a “teleological construction”; it is “ends-driven”, towards total political unity. In ancient Greek philosophy, teleology is the study of things that have a purpose or are directed towards a goal (telos). So beware the goal those foreigners are plotting towards! Shun teleological constructions! | The British public has been gratefully exposed to almost every conceivable way of insulting the EU, but Boris Johnson has offered a novel one. Johnson, who gave a key speech on Brexit this week, calls the EU a “teleological construction”; it is “ends-driven”, towards total political unity. In ancient Greek philosophy, teleology is the study of things that have a purpose or are directed towards a goal (telos). So beware the goal those foreigners are plotting towards! Shun teleological constructions! |
| Boris Johnson warns thwarting Brexit vote would be disastrous | |
| But this polysyllabic dogwhistle to the paranoid is just fallaciously redundant – because absolutely every construction is teleological. If you do not keep in mind the end-state of a robust habitation, you won’t build a very good house. Everything humanmade is a teleological construction. So too are social institutions such as the EU, Ukip, and Islamic State. | But this polysyllabic dogwhistle to the paranoid is just fallaciously redundant – because absolutely every construction is teleological. If you do not keep in mind the end-state of a robust habitation, you won’t build a very good house. Everything humanmade is a teleological construction. So too are social institutions such as the EU, Ukip, and Islamic State. |
| Listeners might therefore suspect that this was an example, not unheard-of with this speaker, of an attempt to bamboozle the populace with pseudo-erudition. In that sense, Johnson’s phrase “teleological construction” is itself a teleological construction, with the specific and sole end of his own glorification. | Listeners might therefore suspect that this was an example, not unheard-of with this speaker, of an attempt to bamboozle the populace with pseudo-erudition. In that sense, Johnson’s phrase “teleological construction” is itself a teleological construction, with the specific and sole end of his own glorification. |
| Reference and languages books | Reference and languages books |
| Steven Poole's word of the week | Steven Poole's word of the week |
| Boris Johnson | Boris Johnson |
| European Union | European Union |
| Europe | Europe |
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