teleophobia

Meaning

Noun

• Reluctance or refusal to ascribe purpose to natural phenomena.

Origin

• From German Teleophobie in the late 19th century. The OED considers the word modern Latin, but the earliest appearance is in the writing of Karl Ernst von Baer in German in the 1860s. Whatever the immediate source it can be analyzed as teleo- + -phobia, from Ancient Greek τέλος ("purpose") + -φοβία.