An example of teleology in scientific writing:
"Mitochondria are degraded and cleared from reticulocytes. The teleological view is that the primary mission of the RBC is to transport oxygen; mitochondria consume oxygen and are therefore undesirable. Other organelles of no use to an anucleate cell are discarded as well: endoplasmic reticulum, ribosomes, and Golgi bodies are all rapidly degraded via as-yet poorly characterised mechanisms.
The final product of this intense development process is a mature RBC, uniquely durable and built to travel."
Kaufman, Richard (2018) Red Blood Cell Life Span, Senescence, and Destruction, in Edward J. Benz, Nancy Berliner, & Fred J. Schiffman, Anemia. Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Management, Cambridge University Press, 19-22.
Kaufman acknowledges the description is teleological:taking a perspective that there is a purpose and plan guiding natural phenomena.
Read about teleology in science
Read examples of teleological (pseudo)explanations for scientific phenomena
Read about types of pseudo-explanations
Examples of teleological statements are included in a document listing a wide range of examples of science analogies, similes, metaphors and the like, drawn from diverse sources, which can be downloaded using this link: 'Creative Comparisons: Making Science Familiar through Language. An illustrative catalogue of figurative comparisons and analogies for science concepts.'
