The term ‘teleology’ – from the Greek telos, meaning end, purpose, or goal – was not coined until well after Spinoza’s death, and different authors have used the term in somewhat different ways. Spinoza himself writes not of teleology but of existing or acting “for the sake of an end [propter finem]”; of “striving” or “endeavor [conatus]”; and of being a “final cause [causa finalis].” The concept of a final cause derives ultimately from Aristotle, for whom final causes are just one of four kinds of cause (along with efficient, formal, and material causes) that stand in complex relations to one another. At a minimum, however, final causes explain by implicating something – an end, purpose, or goal – that is subsequent to what is explained. How best to characterize kinds of causes and the relations among them was an important question for many early modern philosophers, including Spinoza.