The final cause of an acorn.
People always act out of necessity, whether they recognize it or not. People do nothing withaut necessity or inner motivation which is oftten the same. The secondary meaning, the story we build afterward is never intrinsic to the action itself. It is a narrative artifact. They are like wart-on-eczema. It may protect, it may hurt, but its existence is just an effect, not a moral teleology.
Spinoza would likely concur that understanding that individuals act out of necessity and later create meaning for their actions is an adequate idea. It tracks causality rather than presuming final causes or cosmic intent. Narratives will always arise because finite humans cannot operate purely on immediate causes; they need scaffolds to orient themselves. That does not mean the narratives correspond to ultimate truth only to human requirements.
Now, a question: Is the final cause of an acorn becoming an oak? Spinoza says no, in the classical sense of teleology. The acorn has now finl cause. It follows its nature under sufficient conditions (soil, water, light, space), it will grow according to its causal structure. Becoming an oak is not a purpose the acorn has. It is the effect of the laws of its being. In the same way, humans have natures that unfold according to constraints and potentials, but no final cause is driving us beyond what necessity produces.
Saying that the final cause of the acorn is to be an oak presumes intentionality in Nature. False. Saying that the acorn necessarily becomes an oak if conditions allow is accurate. Adequate. Saying that humans necessarily act as humans do under conditions is analogous. Adequate.
Narratives we construct about ourselves or the acorn are secondary meaning, tools, scaffolds and they do not reflect an ultimate cause. To conduct research may claim more than one person or even lifespan meaning human narratives and interpretations will diverge; the causal machinery is indifferent. That is exactly Spinoza.
Necessity produces all outcomes; narratives are optional scaffolds; final causes are myths we tell ourselves. Final causes exist only in stories, never in reality; nature unfolds, humans narrate, and adequacy lies in understanding the distinction.










