Let Me Explain

by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ. 1 May 1881 – 10 April 1955 was a French philosopher and Jesuit priest who trained as a paleontologist and geologist and took part in the discovery of Peking Man.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction

121 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a visionary French Jesuit, paleontologist, biologist, and philosopher, who spent the bulk of his life trying to integrate religious experience with natural science, most specifically Christian theology with theories of evolution. In this endeavor he became enthralled with the possibilities for humankind, which he saw as heading for an exciting convergence of systems, an "Omega point" where the coalescence of consciousness will lead us to a new state of peace and planetary unity. Long before ecology was fashionable, he saw this unity as being based intrinsically upon the spirit of the Earth. Studied in England. Traveled to numerous countries, including China, as missionary.

Died in New York City on Easter 1955

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