When applied to physical phenomena, such as the automatic functions of an
organism, the term “goal-directed” is not to be taken to mean “purposive” (a
concept applicable only to the actions of a consciousness) and is not to imply
the existence of any teleological principle operating in insentient nature. I
use the term “goal-directed,” in this context, to designate the fact that the
automatic functions of living organisms are actions whose nature is such that
they result in the preservation of an organism’s life.