We cannot explain the purposiveness of organisms by referring to
natural selection or cybernetic devices. We must reckon with the
organism’s interiority, which includes the play of thinking through
the organism, whether conscious or unconscious. In humans, our
conscious intentions are seamlessly continuous with the unconscious
realization of those intentions at the cellular (including genomic)
level. But the cells of our body remain purposive whether we are
consciously intending anything or not.