| 释义 |
purposive, a.|ˈpɜːpəsɪv|
[f. purpose n. or v. + -ive. (An anomalous form.)]
1. Characterized by being adapted to some purpose or end; serving or tending to serve some purpose in the constitution of things, esp. in the animal or vegetable economy.
1855Sir J. Paget in Lett. Educ. 240 Things that we call inorganic, when we would distinguish them from living organisms— are yet purposive, and mutually adapted to co⁓operate in the fulfilment of design. 1879Cornh. Mag. June 717 Its final outcome will be a purposive structure,—that is to say, a structure specially adapted to its peculiar function. 1894G. Allen in Westm. Gaz. 8 May 2/1 The stings of nettles are purposive, as stings. They act as protectors.
2. a. Acting or performed with conscious purpose or design.
1863Owen Lect., Power of God (1864) 5 Admiring the rare degree of constructive skill, foresight and purposive adaption, in many artificial machines. Ibid. 6 To exemplify the purposive or adaptive principle in creation. 1874Carpenter Ment. Phys. i. i. §19 (1879) 20 The most purely Volitional movements—those which are prompted by a distinct purposive effort. 1884Athenæum 1 Mar. 283 In this work [Romanes ‘Evolution in Animals’]..we have..purposive intelligence distinctly opposed to natural selection.
b. Relating to conscious or unconscious purpose as reflected in human and animal behaviour or mental activity. Hence ˈpurposivism, the theory that all human or animal activity is purposive; ˈpurposivist n. and a.
1884W. C. Coupland tr. von Hartmann's Philos. of Unconscious I.B. v. 285 For us, who have already become acquainted with the purposive activity of the Unconscious.., there is here..fresh support for our view. 1912W. McDougall Psychol. i. 29 If we make our notion of purposive activity or behaviour wide enough to include these phenomena of bodily organization in the animal kingdom, it must also include the similar purposes of plant growth. 1932E. C. Tolman (title) Purposive behavior in animals and men. Ibid. i. 12 Behavior as behavior, that is, as molar, is purposive and is cognitive. Ibid. xxv. 423 Our psychology is a purposivism; but it is an objective, behavioristic purposivism, not a mentalistic one. 1936J. Kantor Objective Psychol. of Gram. v. 69 The second group of purposivists carry speech farther away from the individual than the first group. For them, speech is primarily an instrument for achieving social purposes. 1940R. S. Woodworth Psychol. (ed. 12) xvii. 583 The purposivist school emphasizes the importance of striving and goal-seeking. 1947G. Murphy Personality vi. 125 (heading) Purposivism. 1953J. Strachey tr. Freud's Interpretation of Dreams in Compl. Wks. V. 528 It can be shown that all that we can ever get rid of are purposive ideas that are known to us; as soon as we have done this, unknown—or..‘unconscious’—purposive ideas take charge. 1962H. Cantril in J. Scher Theories of Mind 339 It becomes increasingly clear that we must include in our consideration the purposive behavior of the organism of which mind is an aspect.
3. Of or pertaining to purpose.
1899J. Smith Chr. Charac. as Soc. Power 216 There is not a causal, but there is a purposive, connection here. 1905Outlook 23 Sept. 390/1 The purposive aspect of Crabbe's writing.
4. Characterized by purpose and resolution.
1903Daily Chron. 29 July 4/4 They are strong in mind and body, truthful and purposive, excellent leaders of the people of lower races. 1904Daily News 10 Aug. 6 They have become aware of his practical talent,..his lucidity, integrity, and calmly purposive steadfastness.
Hence ˈpurposively adv., in a purposive manner; purposely; ˈpurposiveness, the quality or fact of being purposive.
1908Westm. Gaz. 11 Dec. 2/1 Thus the subject community as a whole is definitely, even if not *purposively, shut out from the kind of political evolution which has gone and goes on in the dominant one. 1927E. & C. Paul tr. Ludwig's Bismarck ii. vii. 192 Unless we were more intimately and purposively united with our other fellow countrymen. 1939P. Gordon New Archery ii. viii. 89 Never varying except purposively, to correct a mistake. 1949Wellek & Warren Theory of Lit. xx. 298 Literary study within our universities..must become purposively literary. 1965New Statesman 10 Sept. 343/1 Ministers also speak purposively (this, currently, is a vogue adverb along Whitehall) about measures on rating and leasehold reform. 1973H. Kemelman Tuesday the Rabbi Saw Red iii. 32 Dean Hanbury walked toward them purposively.
1876E. R. Lankester tr. Haeckel's Hist. Creat. I. i. 19 [One] must necessarily come to the conclusion that this ‘*purposiveness’ no more exists than the much-talked-of ‘beneficence’ of the Creator. 1876Bastian in Contemp. Rev. Jan. 248 Its movements, instead of being wholly at random, show more and more signs of purposiveness. 1909J. W. Jenkinson Experim. Embryology 286 Purposiveness..is a characteristic of all organic functions and cannot be ignored. 1932A. H. Gardiner Theory of Speech & Lang. iv. 181 The characteristic feature of the sentence, as opposed to mere unintelligible words, is its purposiveness. 1965E. E. Harris Found. of Metaphys. in Sci. viii. 163 ‘Purposiveness’ is the word that sums up these properties, but it is a word which precipitates controversy both as to its precise meaning and as to its legitimate applicability. 1974G. Sommerhoff Logic of Living Brain ii. 23 The peculiar purposiveness found in living nature. |