Let Me Explain

by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Jean-Pierre Demoulin (Editor), René Hague (Translator)

París. 20 cm. 252 p. Encuadernación en tapa blanda de editorial ilustrada. Idioma francés .. Este libro es de segunda mano y tiene o puede tener marcas y señales de su anterior propietario.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction

189 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a French Jesuit priest, paleontologist, philosopher, mystic, and teacher whose life bridged science and spirituality in a unique synthesis that continues to inspire and provoke debate. Born into an intellectually and culturally rich family, with a father passionate about natural science and a mother whose lineage traced back to Voltaire, he was the fourth of eleven children and demonstrated early curiosity for geology, biology, and the natural world. He entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1899, studied literature and theology, and combined his religious vocation with an insatiable scientific drive, ultimately earning degrees in geology, zoology, and botany from the University of Paris. His early academic career included teaching physics and chemistry in Cairo and developing a strong foundation in paleontology, which later led him to China, where he collaborated with Émile Licent and others in geological surveys and excavations, most notably participating in the discovery of the Peking Man fossils at Zhoukoudian, which became a cornerstone of his reputation. Throughout his scientific work, Teilhard maintained a commitment to integrating evolutionary theory with Christian thought, producing essays and books that articulated a vision of the cosmos as a process of increasing complexity and consciousness, culminating in what he termed the Omega Point, a future unification of humanity and divinity. He served as a stretcher-bearer during World War I, receiving the Médaille militaire and the Legion of Honor, experiences that deepened both his spiritual reflections and his appreciation for human resilience. Despite repeated censorship and opposition from the Catholic Church, including prohibitions against publishing certain works and teaching assignments, he persisted in writing, producing influential works such as The Phenomenon of Man and The Divine Milieu, which attempted to reconcile scientific understanding, evolution, and the unfolding of divine purpose, offering a cosmic theology in which Christ is the unifying principle guiding the development of matter, life, and consciousness. His ideas on the noosphere, human evolution, and spiritual convergence provoked both admiration and criticism, drawing praise from thinkers such as Julian Huxley and Theodosius Dobzhansky for his visionary approach, while others, including Peter Medawar and Richard Dawkins, challenged the scientific rigor of his philosophical synthesis. Teilhard traveled extensively, conducting research across China, Central Asia, India, and Java, collaborating with leading paleontologists and geologists, and contributing to the broader understanding of human prehistory, archaeology, and geology. His writings emphasized the interdependence of material and spiritual evolution, positing that human consciousness and social cooperation are critical for continued development, and that evolution is inherently teleological, moving toward greater unity and complexity. Though controversies surrounding his work persisted during and after his lifetime, including debates over his involvement in the Piltdown Man discovery, thorough historical review and correspondence have largely vindicated him, demonstrating his integrity as a scientist and a thinker. Teilhard de Chardin’s legacy is that of a bridge between disciplines, a thinker whose vision of a spiritually and scientifically coherent universe continues to inspire theologians, scientists, and readers seeking to understand the interplay of faith, reason, and the unfolding story of humanity. He died in New York City in 1955, leaving behind a body of work that remains widely read and influential, reflecting a life devoted to exploring the convergence of human, cosmic, and divine evolution in a single, unified vision.

Reviews

[B. Rule · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teilhard's thought is inspiring, exhilarating, and almost wholly unconvincing. His vision of a totalizing evolutionary sweep of the universe towards greater intelligence, culminating in the Omega Point, has crept its way into all kinds of SF, transhumanism, and progressive theology. It's a beautiful vision and he's worked out a lot of the details of the vision behind it. That said, it all rests on a handful of extraordinarily wobbly suppositions that beg the question of ultimate meaning: namely, that evolution has a purpose and teleology, and that the universe by its structure must have a mechanism to escape death. At one point, Teilhard's argument almost explicitly rests on the proposition that "it would be too horrible if life were meaningless and death is final, therefore there must be something that makes it not so." I would love for that to be true, and may believe it to be true, but he certainly hasn't proven it. He may have provided a bridge from faith to science, but I'm afraid it's a one-way road. He's not going to convince any scientifically minded, materialist types by these arguments, despite his fervent belief in the success of his own project. I have immense respect for him as a visionary and thinker, though. I personally could slurp up endless pages of this kind of stuff.

[ROE!! (Monroe) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm convinced philosophers just talk out of their ass