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Full Idea
All final causes are nothing but human fictions.
Gist of Idea
Final causes are figments of human imagination
Source
Baruch de Spinoza (The Ethics [1675], IApp)
Book Ref
Spinoza,Benedict de: 'Ethics', ed/tr. White,WH/Stirling,AH [Wordsworth 2001], p.37
A Reaction
You can see why Spinoza was rather controversial in the late seventeenth century, when he says things as bold as this, even though he is echoing Descartes. The latter's proposal (Idea 12730) is methodological, whereas this idea is metaphysical.
Related Idea
Idea 12730 We will not try to understand natural or divine ends, or final causes [Descartes]