Gerald James Whitrow, Time in History: Views of Time from Prehistory to the Present Day (1988)
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The famous palaeolithic paintings found in caves such as that at Lascaux in the Dordogne have been interpreted as evidence that, at least implicitly people were operating 20,000 or more years ago with teleological intent in terms of past, present, and future. It may well be that those responsible for the so-called 'Dancing Sorcerer' ...may have felt that the actual performance of the dance was insufficient, since they were concerned with the magical efficacy of the dance after it ended.

— Gerald James Whitrow on Teleology

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The famous palaeolithic paintings found in caves such as that at Lascaux in the Dordogne have been interpreted as evidence that, at least implicitly people were operating 20,000 or more years ago with teleological intent in terms of past, present, and future. It may well be that those responsible for the so-called 'Dancing Sorcerer' ...may have felt that the actual performance of the dance was insufficient, since they were concerned with the magical efficacy of the dance after it ended." in the context of "Gerald James Whitrow, Time in History: Views of Time from Prehistory to the Present Day (1988)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Teleology" (Quotes: Quotes are arranged alphabetically by author, S - Z) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Gerald James Whitrow

About Gerald James Whitrow

Gerald James Whitrow (9 June 1912 – 2 June 2000) or G. J. Whitrow, was a British mathematician, cosmologist and historian of science.