Classical Theism

Teleology has always seemed evident to me. It's the common sense view--beings have metaphysical dispositions and these dispositions aren't arbitrary or random.

Teleology and essentialism go hand in hand. I think the conscious whole we call the human being, or even the conscious whole we call the animal, have persuaded me of some kind of essentialism. And by some kind I mean a sort of Aristotelian top down approach. The fact that matter can be rendered into an irreducible conscious whole, capable of qualia-laden, and rational behavior that outstrips the bare capabilities of its material parts, tells me that there is some organizing principle, something that baptizes the otherwise disparate world-stuff into wholes greater than their parts.

Organizing principle, nature, essence, whatever you call it, is defined by its natural potentials. Humans are rational animals. Find a mature human whose potential for rational thought is somehow thwarted and we call him mentally handicapped, insane, etc. Why? Because there's an expectation of a certain metaphysical disposition, a disposition that humans exclusively engage in, e.g. rational thought. Humans aren't snap shots, nothing is. We know the quiddity of something by the potentials exclusive to it. This is teleology, an aim beyond a being towards a determinate set of potentials.