To naturalize the concept of teleological causality in biology it is not enough to
avoid assuming backward causation or positing the existence of an inscrutable te-
leological essence like the élan vital. We must also specify how the causality of or-
ganisms is distinct from the causality of designed artifacts like thermostats or asym-
metrically oriented processes like the ubiquitous increase of entropy. Historically,
the concept of teleological causality in biology has been based on an analogy to the
familiar experience of purposeful action. This is experienced by us as a disposition
to achieve a general type of end that is represented in advance, and which regulates
the selection of efficient means to achieve it. Inspired by this analogy, to bridge
the gap between biology and human agency we describe a simple molecular pro-
cess called autogenesis that shows how two linked complementary self-organizing
processes can give rise to higher-order relations that resemble purposeful disposi-
tions, though expressed in terms of constraints on molecular processes. Because
the autogenic model is described in sufficient detail to be empirically realizable, it
provides a proof of principle demonstrating a simple form of teleological causality
