purposivity

English

Etymology

purposive +‎ -ity

Noun

purposivity (uncountable)

1. The state or condition of being purposive.

   Synonym: purposiveness

   • 1948, Percy Winner, chapter 20, in The Mote and the Beam‎^[1], New York: Harcourt, Brace, page 332:

     The tumultuous debate within me gradually was resolving itself into an icy purposivity midway between determination and resignation.

   • 1996, Konrad Lorenz, chapter 5, in Robert D. Martin, transl., The Natural Science of the Human Species‎^[2], Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, page 93:

     The species-preserving purposivity of higher organisms is no greater than that of the lowest forms of life, and Jakob von Uexküll was entirely justified in stating that all living organisms are equally well adapted to their environments.