This would be one example of what we call teleological explanation.

This is a reference to the unmoved movers, a teleological explanation.

A major criticism of functionalism is that it lends itself to teleological explanations.

There seem prima facie to be irreducible purpose-based (or teleological explanations) of some natural phenomena.

This account is consistent with teleological explanations of life, which account for phenomena in terms of purpose or goal-directedness.

Meanwhile, scientists who were instructed to assess the statements quickly were more likely to endorse these teleological explanations, even though they are scientifically unwarranted.

It is worth noting, however, that teleological explanations are still common in biology, most grandly in theories of the evolution of species.

Ospovat, Dov: Perfect adaptation and teleological explanation: approaches to the problem of the history of life in the mid-nineteenth century.

This describes Darwin's change from teleological explanation to transmutationist thought which was influential the change in Darwin's understanding of nature from 1837 to the 1850s.

"Even though advanced scientific training can reduce acceptance of scientifically inaccurate teleological explanations, it cannot erase a tenacious early-emerging human tendency to find purpose in nature.

But it is vital, before we canonise the creatures, to note that acting for an end (requiring teleological explanation) is almost a defining feature of the living world as a whole.

Since the Novum Organum of Francis Bacon, teleological explanations in science tend to be deliberately avoided in favor of focus on material and efficient explanations.

But teleological explanations (relating to purpose or function) have remained stubbornly useful in biology - from the structural configuration of macromolecules to the study of co-operation in social systems.

"Teleological Explanation," in Blackwell Companion to Philosophy of Action, Timothy O'Connor and Constantine Sandis, eds.

In an attempt to find a solution to the philosophical problems associated with teleological explanations, Deacon returns to Aristotle's four causes and attempts to modernize them with thermodynamic concepts.

But Nagel's position, as Sober understands it, entails "teleological explanations that are both true and causally inexplicable," a class for which neither Sober, nor Nagel, apparently, can offer any examples.

For example, a teleological explanation of why forks have prongs is that this design helps humans eat certain foods; skewering food to allow humans to eat is what forks are for.

By specifying some but not all aspects of both the initial and final conditions (the positions but not the velocities) we are making some inferences about the initial conditions from the final conditions, and it is this "backward" inference that can be seen as a teleological explanation.