Equifinality

Description

Francis Heylighen explains:

"Given these two fundamental traits — directedness and contingency — we can now see where purpose arises.

Directedness implies an implicit preference: actions tend to move toward one state rather than another. In physics, we describe this as a system minimizing potential energy or maximizing entropy. In biology, it’s the drive to increase fitness. In economics, it’s the pursuit of utility. Each is a preference function: a way of describing what a system tends to move toward.

Yet because of contingency, the path toward that goal is not fixed. Perturbations, surprises, and deviations constantly occur. Still, most systems show a remarkable ability to return toward a preferred outcome. They “correct course.”

In systems theory, this property is called equifinality: different initial conditions can still lead to the same final state. Equifinality is what makes goal-directed behavior robust — the hallmark of purpose.

In this sense, freedom simply means openness or contingency: the capacity for alternative paths. Will means directedness: the tendency toward a preferred outcome.

Put the two together, and free will emerges as a natural feature of open systems — not a mystical gift, but the logical consequence of living in an evolving, contingent universe."

(https://francisheylighen.substack.com/p/why-the-universe-has-meaning-without)