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The Phenomenon of Man
by
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
4.07 · Rating details · 1,466 ratings · 150 reviews
Pierre Teilhard De Chardin was one of the most distinguished thinkers and scientists of our time. He fits into no familiar category for he was at once a biologist and a paleontologist of world renown, and also a Jesuit priest. He applied his whole life, his tremendous intellect and his great spiritual faith to building a philosophy that would reconcile Christian theology with the scientific theory of evolution, to relate the facts of religious experience to those of natural science.
The Phenomenon of Man, the first of his writings to appear in America, Pierre Teilhard's most important book and contains the quintessence of his thought. When published in France it was the best-selling nonfiction book of the year. (less)
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Paperback, 320 pages
Published January 13th 1976 by Harper Perennial (first published 1955)
Original Title
Le phénomène humain
ISBN
006090495X (ISBN13: 9780060904951)
Edition Language
English
Other Editions (47)
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Popular Answered Questions
Ben Crenshaw asked:
Hello. I have been reading some of Pierre de Chardin's books this year. I have heard the quote "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; but spiritual beings having a human experience" attributed to him and that it is from The Phenomena of Man. However, that quote does not appear in that work. Does anyone know the exact source for that quote?
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Ray Wikiquotes has the following entry regarding this "quote:"
[Disputed]
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.
This is attributed to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in The Joy of Kindness (1993), by Robert J. Furey, p. 138; but it is attributed to G. I. Gurdjieff in Beyond Prophecies and Predictions: Everyone's Guide To The Coming Changes (1993) by Moira Timms, p. 62; neither cite a source. It was widely popularized by Wayne Dyer, who often quotes it in his presentations, crediting it to Chardin, as does Stephen Covey in Living the 7 Habits : Stories of Courage and Inspiration (2000), p. 47
Variant: We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.
The above "quotation" can be considered a paraphrase of Hegel's dictum that matter is spirit fallen into a state of self-otherness.
Duane Roberts In some important ways, when we discuss attribution details we often loose sight of the truths in the idea: "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings…". Therein is the crux of the concept. Can we ever experience God solely by either physical or spiritual senses? It seems de Chardin might be testing the thought that we are both spiritual and earthly beings...that life has purpose beyond worldly pursuits. This is what I like about his writing. He provokes my thinking and thereby helps enlighten me as I study all truth.
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Dec 19, 2016Jim Fonseca rated it it was amazing
Shelves: french-authors, science
I’ll start this review by asking: How prescient can one person be? Completing this book in 1940, de Chardin could not have predicted the Internet, but if you read about his concept of the “noosphere,” you realize that if he were alive today (b. 1881; d. 1955) he would look at the Internet and say “That’s it! I knew it would be something like that!” If you read science books and have not yet read Teilhard, you know what you need to do. Right or wrong, De Chardin is one of the few scholars who have even attempted to come up with an answer to the unanswerable question “what is the goal of evolution?" Few books I have read attempt to deal with such BIG thoughts.
And rather than attempt to summarize all his thinking, I’ll just try to catalog some of the things that in my opinion he predicted or prefigured in this work:
The very modern idea of the “Anthropocene” – the idea that the most modern geological era is due to human influence. Most recently promoted by Erle Ellis and others around 2012. De Chardin had the scientific creds: he was trained as a geologist and paleontologist and worked in China on the then-newly-discovered “Peking Man.”
De Chardin saw “The End of Nature” coming -- Bill McKibben, 1989. We humans are in control now; we are the main geologic agent, and if an animal species or a forest survives, it’s because we allow it to do so. “We Are Nature,” frightening as that may be.
De Chardin basically lays out the Gaia hypothesis: James Lovelock, Lynn Margulis, Andrew Watson, 1989. Organisms don’t just evolve in response to their environment but help shape it. Writ large, the earth is evolving into a self-regulating organism. The analogy of black and white daisies regulating heat -- aka “Daisyworld” -- is an example.
When I was in grad school there was much discussion of General Systems Theory, especially Von Bertalanffy’s 1968 work of that name. All about hierarchy and how the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In particular de Chardin notes the million-fold increasing levels of hierarchical complexity from atoms to molecules; from molecules to cells; from cells to organs; from organs to organisms; from organisms to brains and from individual human brains to the emerging collective noosphere.
Some of his thoughts about the rise of the West parallel many of those in Jared Diamond’s 1997 work Guns, Germs, and Steel (which also parallels a lot of Ellsworth Huntington’s 1945 work, Mainsprings of Civilization, minus the racism and heavy dose of environmental determinism of Huntington).
De Chardin also proposes the idea that nothing can evolve that is not incipient in its precedents. An inescapable conclusion is that rocks have feelings and molecules have thoughts. Naturally a lot of scientists have no use for his work. More on that below. He also prefigures many modern ideas such as that there can be no such thing as complete scientific objectivity.
Teilhard’s main thesis, to the extent that it can be summarized in a couple of sentences, is that the divine-directed goal of evolution is the creation of a sphere of interconnected human thought that he calls the noosphere. “Sphere” is used in the same sense as atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere. The noosphere is a collective interconnected human psyche and it’s a humane human psyche dependent upon interconnectedness and caring for each other. Human behaviors such as suicide, drugs and isolation are its antithesis.
So here is a Catholic priest, a Jesuit, writing all this stuff. Yet I do not recall a single mention of the word God or Christ in the body of the work. Instead he writes of the Omega Point. He does talk about how the work relates to “Christian doctrine” in a postscript. Naturally this did not meet with the approval of the Church. De Chardin was banned from publishing his work while he was alive and at times was banned from teaching and from writing at all. He had an arrangement with friends to publish his work after his death (1955) so this work was published in France in 1955 and translated into English in 1959.
Yet, ultimately the work is deeply religious. He argues at one point – I’m paraphrasing – don’t worry about things like climate change, nuclear war, or a stray asteroid wiping out civilization --- CAN’T HAPPEN --- The Purpose of cosmogenesis is noogenesis and the Purpose of noogenesis is Christogenesis. And, in fact, he writes, you will have a lot less anxiety if you accept this idea that there is a Purpose to all this. The reader can see that in writing such things (not to mention rocks and molecules having incipient thoughts and feelings) mainstream scientists dismissed him as readily as the Church did.
I like the fact that de Chardin did not attempt to carefully walk a tightrope between science and religion. He said what he had to say and therefore went “splat” on the sidewalk on both sides of the rope with no apologies. Agree, disagree; this is one of the most thought-provoking books I have read. Certainly the noosphere is a concept that deserves thought. Will we end up like those grade-B sci-fi movies shown at 3:00 am -- brains in jars connected by wires? No, because with wi-fi we won’t need wires! Every month it seems we read of a new development connecting thoughts to computer devices – for those controlling robotic arms, for example. Can it be all that long before we can choose to “share” our brain waves with others?
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Apr 02, 2016Corinne rated it really liked it
Shelves: classic, evolution, constructive, non-fiction, learning
Although he was a priest, in France he is best known for his work in paleontology, when he was a curator in the Museum of Natural History in Paris. He has rendered the subject of evolution easily accessible to all, and his point of view complements that of Darwin in many ways.
For example:
His Chapter called ‘The within of Things’ states the presence of a soul, even for the non-livings, which sounds like a common sense to me. The chapters ‘The rise of Consciousness’ and ‘The confluence of Thoughts’ echo what Jung had confirmed independently.
It may sound like an intellectual read, but it’s not. His modesty comes across all through.
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Jul 27, 2014Czarny Pies rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Recommends it for: Anyone who fails to see that the theory of evolution is entirely compatible with belief in God.
Recommended to Czarny by: Keith Lawson
Shelves: favorites, religion, philosophy
Teilhard de Chardin was both a Jesuit priest and a paleontologist. He found that his scientific work supported his beliefs as a priest. His argument is of a stunning simplicity.
-1- matter organizes itself towards life
-2- life organizes itself towards Christ
-3- earthly matter has only transformed itself into living matter once and no longer does so
-4- man cannot repeat the original transformation of matter into life in a laboratory
The implication of this is that the evolution of life on this planet is a divine process as much as it is a natural process. (less)
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Jan 20, 2009Rod rated it liked it
This book intends to describe the past and future evolution
of life. Many of the scientific concepts expressed in the
first half of the book have been superseded by more recent
developments.
For me, the main interesting concept in the book is the
assertion that human consciousness is an aspect of
evolution. Also that evolution has a goal, i.e. the increasing
complexity of human consciousness (called noosphere) which
will culminate in the final super-humanized form (p. 259)
which the author calls the Omega point.
Since the author was trained as a priest, it would have been
helpful if he had given insight as to why/how religion
plays such a large part in human consciousness.
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Dec 01, 2017Genni rated it liked it
Shelves: philosophy, science
In spite of the three star rating, I do think this book is absolutely worth reading, and reading again. Chardin was an ordained Jesuit priest, but also a trained paleontologist who worked with the team that discovered the “Peking Man” fossils so just from those factors alone, the book is a must read. He offers a picture against both an atheist or, on the other side of the spectrum, a pantheistic perspective of evolution. The coherency of a world with a “personalising” God is something I do agree with. That science and faith do not necessarily conflict with one another is something I also, from the limited scope of my search, agree with. But how he gets there did not leave me convinced.
From what I understand, his main thought goes something like this: Evolution has been proven and he accepts it. As things have developed, they have evolved both radially and interiorly. The pressure from the outward expansion created a downward pressure that caused movement to double back upon itself, resulting in the interior rise of consciousness and complexity. Evolution is goal directed towards an outward movement towards the perfect, and at the same time inwardly towards complexity which all culminates in what he calls an “Omega Point”. I confess to not having studied science very much, but as far as I know, there is not much to back this up. He also confesses that the problem of evil poses, well, a problem, but offered no solution to how free will/determinism and evil play out in his picture. His defense for skipping over this was simply that it was too complex to be addressed in a work that was trying to offer a picture of homogeneity. At least he is honest?
Ultimately, this was a very interesting read and is something I will have to come back to after I learn more, but for now, three stars. (less)
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Jan 26, 2014Ben De Bono rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: theology, read-in-2014, new-authors-read-in-2014
Chardin's posthumously published masterpiece is a must read for any student of science and or/theology. Being someone primarily on the theological side of those two, there were parts of this book that were more densely scientific than I'm used to reading. Yet, even in the most technical portions of Chardin's argument, the theological implications of his writing came through perfectly clear.
Chardin himself lived deeply in both the theological and scientific worlds as a paleontologist and geologist - he was a co-discoverer of the Peking Man - and Jesuit priest. Reading this book when I did, it was difficult not to think of the recent - and in my view absurd - debate between Ken Ham and Bill Nye. Once again religion and science were presented to the public as two rival systems: a state many of us find endlessly frustrating. Yet Chardin's work points in exactly the opposite direction. Here is a thorough study of human evolution that not only points to religion but ultimately to Christianity itself. For those who have read N.T. Wright's work, think of this book as the scientific backbone for Wright's Kingdom of God theology.
I doubt Chardin's book is well known among more fundamentalist and conservative Christians, but if it was I have no doubt he be branded a heretic - or at least seen as very suspicious - on account of his embracing the dreaded "e word". That's a shame, because this work can actually be seen as a defense for conservative Christianity (provided, that is, that we're using the adjective in a technical sense rather than a cultural one). Its conclusion argues not only for the truth of the Christian message but for its unique place among world belief. As St. Paul says in Romans 1, all creation points to God - a passage frequently quoted by conservative Christians but almost never in the sense Chardin takes it!
I say all this, not to take jabs at the Ken Ham crowd but as an expression of my ongoing hope that the false war between faith and science will end once and for all. My hope would be that people on that side would realize that someone like Chardin, with his use of evolution, is an ally not an enemy. While the fulfillment of that hope seems unlikely, history shows clearly that it is by no means impossible. After all, Chardin was once condemned by the Catholic Magisterium, only to later be embraced by many of Catholicism great thinkers - including John Paul II and Benedict XVI (less)
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Aug 23, 2011Chris Shank rated it really liked it
This was great reading in the first and third parts of the book…though the middle almost killed me with its technicality.
In the early 20th century, Pierre Teilhard became a forerunner in integrating evolution with a theistic worldview, but the greatest import of his work was that he took a dead-eye shot at predicting where naturalistic evolution was heading. Advancing beyond mere rosy humanism, Teilhard fervently believed in the eons-long progress of hominization—the coming to being of humanity. He expresses god-like patience by saying, “After all, half a million years, perhaps even a million, were required for life to pass from the pre-hominids to modern man—should we now start wringing our hands because, less than two centuries after glimpsing a higher state, modern man is still at [war] with himself?” This seems to be the real crux of the book. The spiraling paths of progress may not advance much in our lifetime, but the history of life in the universe has shown that progress is all the history of biological development has ever revealed. Speculate rather, how can there NOT be progress…unless life ceases to be altogether? We have no precedent for progress NOT being made in some corner of the universe. And while this development may appear to leave some species behind while focusing on a tiny growing tip of the universe, Teilhard develops the idea early that nothing in the universe is really detached from anything else. If we can accept that proposition, which he spends some time in constructing, then we can accept seeing (or being) an ostensibly forgotten tail, while the rest moves ‘ahead’. Absolutely no pun intended.
Teilhard writes to buttress hope in a ‘secret complicity between the infinite and the infinitesimal to warm, nourish and sustain to the very end…the consciousness that has emerged between the two. It is upon this complicity that we must depend’. Teilhard marvels at this ‘complicity’—what is it that causes objects in space, big and small, to attract to each other? He theorizes somewhat courageously that even the basic attraction of objects in the universe towards each other, to which we apply the name of gravity, is a type of materially evidenced ‘love’. This may sound romantic and completely absurd to our western sensibility, but as Dr. Sten Odenwald, astronomer at NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center, stated on his website astronomycafe.net in reply to a question about our knowledge of gravity, “We don't really understand ANYTHING about our physical world at the deepest level, such as why does gravity exist?” Why couldn’t love, enlarged to subsume the law of mutual attraction that binds the universe together, seek also the unification and concord of human spirits? Would that really pose a problem in a cohesive theory of physical/relational life? To assume that love is merely an emotion, and that humanity is so different a phenomenon as the rest of nature, is to miss the mark. Teilhard boldly reasons, “The only universe capable of containing the human person is an irreversibly ‘personalizing’ universe.” And so the universe is, eo ipso, irreversibly personal. Shouldn’t that logically establish that human love has its root in a larger universal principle that has always existed, like everything else, from the beginning, in what Teilhard calls “an obscure and primordial way”?
Teilhard’s conception of an Omega Point of absolute human union (globalized love) is entirely pertinent in our culture of social networking. It represents the acme of human connections: relationship to the nth degree in what he calls the ‘noosphere’ (mind-sphere), a matrix of highly concentrated and involuted communication—or ‘inter-thinking’ as Julian Huxley put it in the intro. Modern globalization may be bringing us closer in the next century to Teilhard’s reckoning quicker than he could have imagined. When he adduced that ‘totalized love’ would be ‘impossible’ to envision by mere rational projection, it suddenly struck me, by all the signs of instant communication and complex social networking, as very possible indeed. Distance doesn’t dilute dreams…only our grasp of them. Once again, doesn’t all human progress signify the eventual emergence (evolution) of a perfect union? “A universal love is not only psychologically possible; it is the only complete and final way in which we are able to love.” This seems to me what we all want, what is woven into our religions and our highest technological/scientific aspirations, and yet some will laugh at it as if it was a silly dream. But nature has taught us to hope.
His views on the awakening human mind and self-awareness were certainly intriguing. I’ve always thought that the idea of a universe ‘groping’ towards consciousness and unified fulfillment through eons of evolutive progress is very romantic. The impression isn’t necessarily that God is waking up through a pantheistic becoming , but that the mind of God is somehow imprinted and bound together with the material/psychical world while extending beyond it (panentheism). The goal of awakening and full being is included in his Omega Point.
I was a little disappointed with the chapter “The Christian Phenomenon”, which seemed to toss his original ideas and intellectual tour de force into the catch-all, domestic doctrines of orthodox Catholicism. It was as if he was offering something truly novel, only to conclude with a unworthy bow, “The Church was right all along.” Uh, bait-and-switch anyone? Of course, knowing the history of Teilhard’s censorship by the church, this contriteness may have been what got the book in print after all. Now, I understand Teilhard’s trying to harmonize the symbolic content of religion with the flat data of science, but I’m pretty sure his work-a-day science did a good enough job paying tribute to his religious beliefs, possibly outstripping them a tad. By his own admission, his ideas weren’t meant to be taken as strictly science, but rather an ‘interiorisation of matter’, even leading some to wonder if he had been leading them “through facts, through metaphysics, or through dreams.” To which I think Teilhard would cheerily reply, ‘Yes.’ Criticizing any claim to pure objectivity he reminds us, “There is less difference than people think between research and adoration.”
I have a feeling that the thoughts and ideas introduced and reinforced by this book will be with me for a while. The more it sits with me, the more it makes a deeper change. As with every book I read, if you would like a copy of a few pages of great lines from the book, send me a message and I’ll get it to you. It’s great fodder for thought and discussion.
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Jun 09, 2015Jimmy Ele rated it it was amazing
Shelves: uber-favorites
I read this years ago and I remember it blowing my mind. However, I was not as knowledgeable about certain scientific subjects as I am now so I do believe a re reading is in order. I have forgotten most of the book but there are certain images that have stuck with me throughout my life. The idea of evolution being a physical manifestation of the ever increasing complexity of consciousness is one of those ideas. It is definitely a very entertaining read but like all works of man that have to do with the deepest understandings of the universe and life, it is most likely flawed and lacking in certain respects. This is undoubtedly no fault of the man himself but just a reflection of the limits of human knowledge. (less)
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Mar 20, 2008Jsimone rated it it was amazing
This book changed my view of both religion and science, areas in which Teilhard was expert. His explanation of the convergence of the two over many millenia is breathtaking in its scope and novelty. Reading this book was life-changing for me.
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Feb 15, 2012Adam Lauver rated it liked it
Essential reading for anyone interested in evolution, theology, or philosophy in general. I personally approached it more interested in its spiritual concepts, so I found a fair portion of the middle of the text rather slow and inaccessible due to its focus on the scientific specifics of evolution (details that are probably outdated today anyway, which doesn't help). But there are enough interesting lines, images, and trains of thought throughout to make the whole read worthwhile, and the last third of the book in particular gets into some really interesting (if brazenly biased) spiritual territory.
In my opinion, Teilhard is at his best when he explores overtly the spiritual reality of mankind, describing it with a sense of optimism and purpose while couching it in the evolutionary framework that he presents (and, to be fair, that is essentially the crux of the entire book, it just gets lost in the mix at times). Even when he wears his Christianity on his sleeve (which, while definitely a flaw in his otherwise fairly comprehensive system of thought, is kind of cute), it is apparent that he has nothing but the best at heart for his species: a sense of spiritual well-being and a connection with something greater (i.e. The Omega Point in this case--a head-scratcher of a notion, but it almost seems like one of the more reasonable (albeit still arbitrary) defenses for Jesus-as-the-divine-entering-into-the-world that I've heard). Much like Kierkegaard, Teilhard (what's with these -ard guys anyway?) constructs a wildly intriguing system of ideas around his faith system, and in doing so gets at some really important truths while completely missing out on others.
I would recommend this book with the qualification that recent integral philosophers present a more tenable approach to its key points (i.e. the "within" of things, evolution as increasing consciousness, etc.) and a more comprehensive view of evolution in general. (less)
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Jun 23, 2008Andrew rated it it was ok
Shelves: anthropology, religion-theology
I've known Teilhard de Chardin's name and influence even long before I became interested in religion myself, and this book was a long time in coming. And a long time in finishing, it just didn't woo me.
His prose is stronger than his argument. His science is not up to modern standards, but nor in many ways his own. What continuously bothered me was how often he resorts to normative statements, analogies between unrelated things and such to make both scientific and theological claims. Yes, evolution resembles a tree (if you graph it on paper) but that does not make it a tree.
All in all, very proto-New Age stuff to me. Fanciful analogy. I don't dislike his attempt at a synthesis or a grand scope of things, only the result. (less)
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Apr 26, 2014Pierce rated it it was amazing
It is a tragedy that Teilhard de Chardin was not allowed to publish or teach his ideas in his lifetime. His work is so steeped in a deep understanding of paleontology and evolutionary biology that it holds up remarkably well today, even if the sections of this book that deal with those particular topics seem very dated. His scientific background is really just a support for this book's philosophical/theological core, and that is the other thing that makes this book so striking: if you knew nothing of its background, you wouldn't realize you were reading the work of a Jesuit until Book 4, a few hundred pages in. Regardless of what you may believe religiously or know scientifically, this is deep thinking on human evolution that will challenge and inspire any reader. (less)
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May 24, 2013Janis rated it it was amazing
read it 30+ yrs ago. it is still on my bookshelf and comes out to play at irregular intervals. that alone says a lot.
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Jun 18, 2017Daniel Seifert rated it it was amazing
Shelves: science, human-flourishing
Pierre Teilhard De Chardin in The Phenomenon of Man develops a view of evolution as an enduring and comprehensive process, a three-fold synthesis of the material, physical and the world of the mind and spirit (consciousness; this somewhat reminds me of the development of consciousness via Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit). It is a fascinating read in terms of thinking about the leap(s) and development of human consciousness. Chardin’s Phenomenon of Man views the planet we live on as biosphere translated (Swiss) as “the face of the earth,” and being aware that we are not just living in one place in one country, but in space and time—we’re living on a globe. We’re living on the whole earth and the earth has a face and a kind of identity, almost physiognomy, like a person, like a cosmic person.
Chardin, a Jesuit (who fully embraced evolution as a paleontologist) developed his work, partly theological, but more so, a “scientific treatise”. He seeks to help the reader “to see and to make others see what happens to humankind and what conclusions are forced upon us, when we are placed fairly and squarely with the framework of phenomenon and appearance.” He progresses from [I] “Before Life Came” (the evolution of matter), [II] “Life” (advent, expansion, ramification and tree of life) [III] “Thought” (birth of, deployment of the Noosphere, the modern earth), and finally [IV] “Survival” (collective, beyond collective, ultimate earth).
The Noosphere is an astonishing development which Teilhard is known for. It’s depicted as proceeding from a Neolithic metamorphosis that has occurred through various factors such as incessant advances of multiplication (migrations), inventions of all sorts of communal and juridical structures (property, morals, social), the appetite for research (period of growth in research and invention, e.g., horticultural, pottery, writing, metallurgy ), and conquest (the flush of expansion. Over a brief period of time relative to evolutional time, there have emerged increased exchanges in commerce, transmission of ideas, traditions have become organized and a collective memory has been formed encircling the earth.
This takes us into the leap and realm today of the whole region of cyberspace. There are even those who call Teilhard the patron saint of the World Wide Web. When you read the later part of this text, you have a sense that he foresaw this idea that we will intensify our communication.
It’s a fascinating awareness to reflect thus. The biosphere is the earth of the layer of living things and the noosphere is really about the layer of thinking beings and, in fact, of consciousness. Noos (Greek nous) is about synthesis and not our reason or analysis. It’s the self-thinking, and it’s the thinking that connects us. You catch his deep concern in the fourth book, Survival, where there is a fear that is the still emerging human. Here Teilhard was interested in where we are going as a species.
Teilhard sketched humans who existed in tiny groups having their separate symbolic systems, disconnected to each other; then, these grains of thought were coalescing which corresponds to increasing the scale of society. He thought that the earth is “becoming covered by myriads of grains of thought” and “enclosed in a single thinking envelope” forming “a single vast grain of thought on the sidereal scale, the plurality of individual reflections grouping themselves together and reinforcing one another in the act of single unanimous reflection” (251-2). This is a single global consciousness, the Hyper-Personal which he called the Omega Point. (less)
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Mar 06, 2018AJ Nolan rated it liked it
Shelves: religion-philosophy, non-fiction, 2018-books
I've been meaning to read Teilhard for years. This book, considered his greatest work, is indeed an ambitious undertaking - a deep look at evolution from the very formation of our planet through to where he views we are heading (and already have at our center), the Omega of a united consciousness. While the science is dated, of course, it is beautiful to read such a fine mind at work, and here and there he comes up with some thrilling observations about what it is to be alive, to be conscious. I only give it three stars because while there is a lot of beauty in this book, it is a bit of a slog to make it through all of the science, especially complicated by the fact that the science is out of date. But it was still worth the read. It reminding me of Edward O. Wilson's Conscilience of Knowledge, and made me wonder if Wilson had read Teilhard. I bet he did. Also, his idea of universal consciousnesses seemed to me to be a close cousin to Jung's collective unconscious, and they seem good companions to one another. (less)
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Sep 27, 2016Andrew Orange rated it it was ok · review of another edition
Shelves: non-fiction, classics
Well-written, intellectual, but wrong book.
De Chardin tried to connect the unconnected things: Christianity, naturalism, pantheism and nietzscheanism.
Allegedly, evolution and natural selection have led to the birth of men. In turn, men can become supermen and create the God by a method of merging.
The author makes extremely doubtful assumptions.
For example, an initial substance supposedly has a consciousness or spirit and this has led to the emergence of life. ???
In addition, de Chardin ignores many facts. In particular, natural selection reinforces the existing norm, and doesn't lead to the perfection/development of life.
Random mutations lead to degradation and death as a rule (and not to the development).
Human nature is depraved and puny (especially in comparison with the scale and age of the Universe).
Two Stars. (less)
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Sep 23, 2018JeanAnn rated it it was ok
Shelves: morning-coffee
We were introduced to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin a few years ago at a spirituality conference. We felt lost at the conference, but have continued to so very often see and hear his name and works mentioned, we felt we should read his most famous work, The Phenomenon of Man followed by his book The Divine Milieu. Well, we trudged through The Phenomenon of Man but with persistence and difficulty, so I’m not sure we’ll even try The Divine Milieu. Maybe we should go straight for an eNotes Study Guide for Phenomenon and The Divine Milieu Explained. (less)
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Mar 20, 2015Alexi Parizeau rated it it was ok
I wanted to like this book, but unfortunately the author failed to maintain scientific rigour in his conclusions. The author himself suspected he had succumbed to "vain ideology", but he simply hoped it was more than that. It's unfortunate, because had he not fallen into this trap, some of his ideas could have been salvaged using just a bit more scientific discipline. For what its worth, I still enjoyed reading about his ideas, especially since I see pieces of them reflected in modern theories. (less)
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Aug 05, 2008Deborah rated it it was amazing
The Patron Saint of the Internet presents his theory of...well, everything. From the beginning of the universe to its ultimate culmination in the Omega point, Teilhard de Chardin explains the process that is God. Very interesting reading. Wish I were smart enough to fully grasp everything he presents!
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Dec 02, 2012Sonny Spurlock rated it it was amazing
I return to Teilhard often to be challenged and enlightened. Sometimes difficult but always worth it
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May 24, 2014Ant rated it it was ok
Shelves: philosophy
Hard to enjoy a book when you disagree with the fundamental principles.
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Jul 21, 2017James rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: philosophy-cosmology-metaphysics, religion-spirituality-gnostic, science, anthropology
The author--French philosopher, paleontologist, and Jesuit priest--organized this book into three parts that lead into a coherent and revealing picture of the earth. As Julian Huxley expressed in the introduction, Teilhard describes humankind in the evolution toward becoming conscious of itself.
My interest is to learn about Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's description of the noosphere--the collective consciousness of humanity in the immersive networks of thought and emotion--borrowed from the Soviet mineralogist and geochemist Vladimir Vernadsky.
In part 3, the author introduces the development of the "noosphere" by describing the earth as "the phosphorescence of thought" (183). Deployment of the noosphere began with the family of hominids, including man (homo sapiens: Latin: wise man).
Economic changes, social changes, technology, and industry opened the perception of space-time, duration (and distance), and self-reflection (illumination): a disquieting and challenging adaptation for early humans laboring to survive.
Currently, we participate in a harmonized collective (unity, mega-synthesis) of consciousness that leads to "a sort of super-consciousness" (251). We are rising upwards (ascending) towards convergence with the Divine (God, Spirit). (less)
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Sep 10, 2021Cameron Cook added it
Cannot recommend this enough.
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Jan 11, 2018Jitse rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: science, philosophy-religion
This book is a tough one. About half of the time one can't help but think: 'what did this guy smoke?', but at the same time it is really quite fascinating. His alternative view of evolution is at times a lot better than the prevailing, reductionist account of it. However, the scientific details both on consciousness and radial and tangential energy do not seem to be accurate (although I am not a physicist, so I'm guessing here), turning the whole story into something of a myth rather than science. Also, his writing is a bit unwieldy, very French.
In short: good in the thinking department, not super good in the science one. (less)
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Nov 19, 2015Adam Ross rated it it was amazing
Shelves: history, theology, philosophy
An extraordinary book by renowned paleontologist and Jesuit priest Teilhard de Chardin, which essentially traces the history of life on planet Earth in order to think about where life might be headed in the future. One of the most captivating aspects of the book is Teilhard's account of the development of consciousness, which evolutionary theory has not thought much about. Teilhard proposes that the growth of external complexity is paralleled by a growth of inward complexity, so that just as more complicated organisms are able to do more things, so more neurons in the mind give rise to deeper and deeper reflection, until in humanity we reach the point of self-consciousness and self-reflection. In the conclusion, he then grounds the rise of consciousness (what he terms the Noosphere) with the Omega Point, which he describes as the Telos toward which the cosmic and enthroned Christ is pulling the whole world, the intention and purpose for which all things were made and toward which they are inexorably drawn. (less)
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Jan 17, 2015Soren rated it really liked it
Shelves: philosophy, own-ebook
As a work of philosophy and speculative non-fiction, it's a superb attempt at trying to ground human development with a basis in hard science. As a work of science, it's amazing how well it holds up, having been written around 1940, when molecular biology, genetic evolution, and cybernetics were all in their infancy. Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World provides a slightly more modern, yet still remarkably consistent, picture of the idea of how evolution itself is evolving, and the destiny of man and the machines that he has created. (less)
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Nov 23, 2008Mike rated it liked it
The author has very interesting points that definitely make a lot of sense. Since he was both a Jesuit and a scientist, Teilhard De Chardin links spirituality and evolution in a wonderful way. The only problem I had with this book was that some of the author's arguments were stated as intuitive, but actually appeared to me to be counter-intuitive. Some of the ideas were just not bolstered by enough proof, or any proof whatsoever. On a whole, I think this book brings up some astounding points. They have changed the way I look at the world in some respects. If only I could have gotten myself past the thin arguments, I probably would have given The Phenomenon of Man 5 stars. (less)
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Feb 24, 2015Andrei Stinga rated it really liked it
Shelves: being-human, evolution, consciousness, anthropology, religion
During the years I encountered many references to this book and its a author. While it's anthropological data seem to much for a casual reader, its hypotheses and conclusions made it worthwhile. It managed to bring up some of the most enduring questions and dilemmas that I struggled with over the years, and it brought interesting new points of view to the table.
While I was familliar with the general idea of the book, I was pleasantly surprised by its eloquence and clarity.
I am no anthropologist, but I think Teilhard de Chardin manages to prove his thesis with resounding success. (less)
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Jul 21, 2017Marian rated it really liked it
The book is best read with a discussion group and commentary from people like Cynthia Bourgeault and Ilia Delio. I and 2 others facilitated an 8 month series based on the work of Teilhard. We used Anne Hillman's book Awakening the Energies of Love and Kathleen Duffy's Teilhard's Mysticism, the essay The Heart of the Matter and a series of DVDs with Ilia Delio. Really getting Teilhard's mysticim takes living into the energies of the evolution of love.
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Oct 31, 2017Vince Eccles rated it it was ok
Shelves: philosophy, religion
The book was important in the first half of the 20th century. Flannery O' Conner liked him. However, I don't think his work will last. His effort to merge modern science and theology is not very strong. His understanding of the physical sciences is far too weak. There will be better efforts that his. (less)
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Top reviews from the United States
Aran Joseph CanesTop Contributor: Philosophy
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5.0 out of 5 stars The Phenomenon of Teilhard de Chardin
Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2019
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The Phenomena of Man starts with Chardin stating that he wants the reader to correctly see the evolution of the universe. Of course, the scientific understanding of cosmogony, geology and paleo-anthropology have increased since the mid twentieth century and parts of Chardin’s magnum opus are now dated. However, the essence of his vision remains unspoiled, if still controversial.
Chardin posits the theory of pan-psychism. Consciousness in human beings is explained not as an epiphenomenon but as the acme of a consciousness found in every atom, molecule and cell. Although counterintuitive, pan-psychism does continue to have adherents within the scientific community. This move allows Chardin to describe evolution, not as the random succession of adaptive forms, but as a progression to higher and higher levels of consciousness.
Thus, the human being is the goal of both the earth’s and the universe’s genesis. We are matter awakening to itself. Thus, the noosphere, the collective creation of human thought, is just as real and important as the atmosphere or biosphere. This noosphere is evolving towards a collective “Omega Point” of maximum consciousness and love.
If all of this seems a little far-fetched, it’s partly because it is and partly because Chardin is a consummate artist in describing his vision. What seems at first blush absurd becomes more and more plausible, at least partially, as the book continues.
It is probably the most articulate alternative to the standard materialist/nihilist version of evolution proffered by biologists such as Richard Dawkins. Although, to be fair to Dawkins, his idea of memes evolving amongst humanity also grants to the world of thought a reality and importance beyond mere biological evolution. In some ways, materialist and humanist interpretations of cosmogony and biological evaluation seem like two different interpretations of the same reality.
Of course, Chardin’s account of all matter having some degree of consciousness, moreover even some degree of love, is highly questionable. And, at least in my reading, the account of man as apex of creation hinges upon this assumption.
But, as with any highly creative and synthetic work, it is well worth reading even if certain particulars seem ill founded. Highly recommended.
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Spoiled Meat
5.0 out of 5 stars Evolution Meets Modernity
Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2015
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This book is one of the most profound intellectual adventures I've ever been on. Anyone interested in spirituality and the evolution of consciousness should read this. Teilhard was ahead of his time, even predicting the internet. Not only is he clear and easy to read in his analysis, he is also a gifted writer. I put this book down many times to either savor a insight he made, or to let the poetic nature of a phrase sink in. The best thing about this book is that it trains you to view the world through the lens of evolution. Although the book must end, Teilhard gives you enough structure to continue his analysis in our everyday lives and reveal once invisible connections.
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Richard B. SchwartzTop Contributor: Philosophy
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4.0 out of 5 stars More a Cultural Monument than a Theological or Scientific One
Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2018
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I came to THE PHENOMENON OF MAN later in life. When I was in college Teilhard de Chardin was all the rage. I heard about the book but I never found time to read it. Since then it has been on my ‘must read some day’ list. I found the book interesting and engaging but I also had difficulty positioning it. It is not pure science and it is not pure theology, nor is it pure metaphysics. He recognizes this when he says, “Among those who have attempted to read this book to the end, many will close it, dissatisfied and thoughtful, wondering whether I have been leading them through facts, through metaphysics or through dreams (p. 289).”
The thrust of his thought is clear. He believes that evolution and theology are completely commensurate with one another. The evolutionary process leads toward consciousness and thought. We progress from the biosphere to the noosphere. Some take the latter concept to be a theologized version of the internet—the consciousness and thought of ‘all of us’. Our final destination is the ‘Omega Point’, God. Since Christianity tells us that God is both the alpha and the omega I would have liked to have heard Teilhard’s view of the big bang, whose nature and timing were in the process of being understood when he was writing.
Throughout the book Teilhard is forced to hedge. We can’t see all of the way back into the past nor all of the way into the future. We can’t really yet know all of the outside of things nor all of the inside of things. Nevertheless, he presses on, guided by his overarching vision of human/cosmic evolution.
Ultimately, I think the book is best not characterized as science or theology. It is ‘visionary’ speculation presented in the language of science. Some have said, for example, that Marx was really not an economist and Freud was really not a scientist. They were poets, creating concepts and images that are an important part of our cultural inheritance and important elements in our cultural language. They are not really science. I think of Teilhard in those kinds of terms. We can now talk about the Omega Point and the noosphere, but they do not carry the kind of specificity that ‘Molybdenum’ or the ‘pancreas’ enjoy.
His work fell afoul of church teaching during his own time and his work was published posthumously. Obviously, the church had some issues with evolution, particularly the notion of evolution as a kind of closed system. ‘Organicism’ is different from ‘determinism’ but there is a ruthless momentum to Teilhard’s view of evolution that smacks of determinism. There is no significant talk here concerning free will and free will is central to Christian theology, particularly when we seek to understand the problem of evil. Teilhard speaks of the latter in an appendix and his thoughts are quite pedestrian. It is hard to reconcile Teilhard’s thought with the notion of original sin and it is questionable whether or not Teilhard would permit divine intervention in human history once the original plan has been set in motion.
Bottom line: the directions of Teilhard’s thought can serve (like the ‘arguments’ for God’s existence) as aids to piety, but his work will neither make the church comfortable nor receive the full-throated approval of scientists. His science per se is well-informed but when he gets into theory and explication we are sometimes at a loss to penetrate his language, which is too abstract and/or too abstruse. He writes like this (chosen at random): “b. Next comes ingenuity. This is the indispensable condition, or more precisely the constructive facet, of additivity.” (Why does ‘additivity’ have to be ingenious? Why couldn’t it also be simple and direct?)
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R D RUDD
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent value, Third of the way through now, still extolling the essences.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 7, 2018
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Nothing to dislike here. Quality read, consistently mentally upgradable with application of modern Brain filtering awareness. RDR
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5.0 out of 5 stars The quality of the product admirably met its description.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 7, 2020
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It took rather a long time to get to me but the product was fine. A second hand hardback in good condition. It’s on my reading list, but haven’t got to it yet, so no comment on this seminal text. I was slightly disappointed that the book arrived without its dust jacket which featured in the on-line photo, as it was a nice period piece.
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sjm53
2.0 out of 5 stars Teilhard may be on to something but his florid and ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 26, 2016
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Teilhard may be on to something but his florid and pretentious prose does nothing to illuminate his thesis and leaves him open to the criticism of Sir Peter Medawar referenced by other reviewers. Readers unconvinced by the arguments of Dawkins and his acolytes should read Jerry Fodor's "What Darwin Got Wrong" or Raymond Tallis "Aping Mankind".
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Amazon Customer in UK
3.0 out of 5 stars Spoilt by poor editing of e version
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 23, 2017
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Cannot fault Teilhard rd Chardin obviously but the reading made difficult by the poor editing of the format with regard to typos. A great shame.
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beatrice kennedy
5.0 out of 5 stars Human development.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 14, 2016
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Essential reading for all interested in acquiring a broad view of human development.
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