The study of, and the implicit assumption that everything has, a final purpose. Derived from the Greek word ‘telos’ meaning end, teleology is a philosophical position premised on the idea that human action has a purpose. This purpose is sometimes considered divine, where teleology is equated with God’s design, and may be compared to fatalism. But there is also a secular version in which teleology and history are equated. On this view of things, which is often described as a social Darwinist perspective, all human society is constantly evolving towards some as yet unknown, but certainly higher and more sophisticated form. Tel Quel A French literary and philosophical journal published between 1960 and 1983. Edited by Sollers, Philippe, the journal published work by many of the leading figures of what would become known as post-structuralism, or simply as theory, and so played a major part in both disseminating and popularizing theory. Barthes, Roland, Derrida, Jacques, Foucault, Michel, and Kristeva, Julia all published with the journal---they all also broke with the journal at some point for philosophical and more especially political reasons. The journal was distinctive for its pugnacious stance: it overtly championed political causes such as Maoism, and defended the nouveau roman against criticism, but also attacked it for not being experimental enough, and favoured psychoanalysis and Marxism when these things were out of fashion. It was undoubtedly one of the most influential academic journals of its time. Further Reading: P. ffrench The Time of Theory: A History of Tel Quel, 1960—83 (1995). Temporary Autonomous Zone](#X2324115c9b2f9fe8277dc3d0c054fbb9917df73) (TAZ) Anarchist poet and social activist Hakim Bey’s radical proposal for a concept of utopia suited to the historical conditions of late capitalism. Conceived in the late 1980s when the Cold War still dominated geopolitical thought and the Internet was in its infancy, the temporary autonomous zone proposed to deploy the resources of the latter in order to offer an alternative political model to the capitalism/socialism binary underpinning the former. Arguing that the all or nothing rhetoric of revolution paralyses politics, because the sheer scale of the task of trying to change the world inevitably overwhelms even the hardiest of activists, Bey instead suggests that activism should look to insurrection as its model. Rather than take power, as revolution demands, the TAZ looks simply to create a space or enclave for an alternative to power. Inspired by Deleuze, Gilles and authority’s concept of modernism, though it derives its historical precedents from seagoing pirates rather than desert tribes, its logic anticipates the anti-BWO (World Trade Organization) slogans that circulated in the late 1990s, e.g. ‘one world with many worlds in it’ and ‘another world is possible’, in that it is not concerned with seizing territory, but simply wants to mobilize anything it can find to hand---art, ideas, slogans, festivals, theatre---to open up a space for new ways of thinking and living. He refers to this process as either ‘ontological anarchy’ or ‘poetic terrorism’. But it is also more radical than the anti-WTO movement in that it wants to break with existing social structures, such as that of the family, and it eschews permanence in favour of transience. Bey insists that the TAZ is not a political doctrine and offers no programme for creating it, claiming instead that as a kind of psycho-spiritual or existentialist state it is always already being created (in this regard it also anticipates da and drive’s concept of the multitude and could usefully be compared to Deleuze and Guattari’s notion of the rhizome). Further Reading: H. Bey T.A.Z.: Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism (1985).