Though Robert Boyle called final causes one of the most important subjects for a natural philosopher to study, his own treatise on the subject, the Disquisition about Final Causes, has received comparatively little scholarly attention. In this paper, I explicate Boyle's complex argument against the use of teleological explanations for inanimate bodies, such as metals. The central object of this argument is a mysterious allusion to a silver plant. I claim that the silver plant is best understood as a reference to alchemical product: the Arbor Dianae, an offshoot of George Starkey's recipe for the Philosophers' Stone. Then, I show how the context of alchemy not only clarifies Boyle's argument but also places it within a wider dialectic about matter and teleology. I then contrast the parallel arguments of Boyle and John Ray on the question of whether metals have divine purposes and show that the difference is explained by Boyle's belief in the transmutation of metals.

尽管罗伯特·博伊尔称终因是自然哲学家研究的最重要的学科之一，但他自己关于终因的论文《论终因》却很少受到学术界的关注。在这篇论文中，我解释了波义耳反对对无生命物体（例如金属）使用目的论解释的复杂论点。这个论点的中心对象是对银植物的神秘暗示。我声称银植物最好被理解为炼金产品的参考：Arbor Dianae，乔治·斯塔基的魔法石配方的一个分支。然后，我将展示炼金术的背景如何不仅阐明了波义耳的论点，而且将其置于关于物质和目的论的更广泛辩证法中。然后，我对比了 Boyle 和 John Ray 在金属是否具有神圣目的的问题上的平行论点，并表明差异可以通过 Boyle 对金属嬗变的信念来解释。