"The eye is made for seeing", "only the fittest survive", "evolution is progress" — these are just a few of the claims that implicitly liken nature's work to that of an engineer manipulating living matter with specific aims: a visual apparatus, adaptation to environmental conditions, technical progress. Biology is the only science that, even today, gives such prominence to finalism, a concept banished since the modern era due to its anthropomorphism. But is this nothing more than a pedagogical metaphor?

Henri Bergson, at the start of the 20th century, saw it differently, interpreting it as a symptom of science's failure to grasp the living. While supporting the theory of evolution, he criticised the limitations of the science studying it. The theory of evolution as formulated in his time failed to account for the history and creativity of life, forcing it to tacitly ascribe intentions to nature and thereby bearing heavy metaphysical assumptions. What about today? Does neo-Darwinism escape Bergson’s critiques? Can evolution be understood beyond any notion of finalism (or teleology)?

Combining the history of science, philosophy, and contemporary biology, this book explores the role of finalism in evolutionary biology by examining the eye of the scallop, the interactions of the woodlouse, and the scuffles of hyenas, all through the lens of Bergsonian philosophy.