Father Stubna's Recommendations - test note
Reprinted : Harper Colins Publishers, 2008.
Teilhard was forbidden to publish his writings during his lifetime, the 1950 encyclical 'Humani Generis' condemned several of his opinions, and in 1962, the Holy Office issued a 'Monitum' or warning that his books contained ambiguities' and 'serious errors,' that offended Catholic doctrine. But more recently, Pope John Paul II cited Teilhard approvingly, as has Benedict XVI. This book was published posthumously in 1955. -Amazon review. Reviewed 9/3/2021 df.
Teilhard was forbidden to publish his writings during his lifetime, the 1950 encyclical 'Humani Generis' condemned several of his opinions, and in 1962, the Holy Office issued a 'Monitum' or warning that his books contained ambiguities' and 'serious errors,' that offended Catholic doctrine. But more recently, Pope John Paul II cited Teilhard approvingly, as has Benedict XVI. This book was published posthumously in 1955. -Amazon review. Reviewed 9/3/2021 df.
Status
Available
Call number
Publication
New York, Harper [1959]
Physical description
318 p.; 22 cm
User reviews
LibraryThing member wrmjr66
This is an overly convoluted work that tries to take theology and evolution and combine them in a philosophy that sees man continuing to develop into a union with the universe. It's much more sophisticated than anything like "Intelligent Design," and yet it relies too much on logical conjecture
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rather than science. Show Less
LibraryThing member KerrvilleCate
de Chardin is going to be proven right in the next few years. His idea of human conciousness becoming the "noosphere" or the thought sphere of earth by combining and filling the earth is being talked and written about right now by very serious people.
LibraryThing member breadhat
I really tried to love this book, which contains a number of ideas that I find wacky but exciting. I'm sad to say that it was something of a letdown. The astonishing concepts are weighed down by unpalatable writing (or translating, possibly) and a truly strange style of argumentation. Teilhard's
This is a landmark book, and I'm glad that I read it. I just wish I could say that it was more of a pleasure to experience. Teilhard seems like a fascinating and somewhat tragic figure; better writing would have made him much more sympathetic.
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pretense that his worldview, which contains a number of fascinating ties to mystical visions from the medieval West and the Far East, is a simple product of scientific reasoning absolutely fails to convince. I was reminded of Spinoza's Ethics, where the logical apparatus forms a tedious and ineffective mask for the imaginative philosophical/religious core.This is a landmark book, and I'm glad that I read it. I just wish I could say that it was more of a pleasure to experience. Teilhard seems like a fascinating and somewhat tragic figure; better writing would have made him much more sympathetic.
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LibraryThing member br77rino
A great, thoughtful, treatise on, well, mankind as a phenomenon of nature.
LibraryThing member Schmerguls
827 The Phenomenon of Man, by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin English translation by Bernard Wall (read 30 Oct 1965) I found this a most significant book, but felt my comments on it would not be memorable so I recorded them not. But I do remember being totally awestruck by the soaring conclusion.
LibraryThing member keylawk
This is the book to which Aldous Huxley provided an introduction, and for which Peter Medawar provided an annihilation: "to expound is to expose". See "Pluto's Republic".
Teilhard establishes the fact that the fundamental process or motion of the universe os evolution. Nothing is wholly new; there
I love the imaginative turn of phrase and am not put off, as more scientific persons (Doctor Medawar) may be by adjectives. To avoid persecution, the author had to add layers of edits and apologia, often just getting in more trouble with the dogmatists. This work contains his "Epiloque", "Postscript", and "Appendix" -- the latter emphasizing the evolutionary vector on the horizon of time, in which "the human epic resembles nothing so much as a way of the Cross." !! Brilliant save.
Teilhard establishes the fact that the fundamental process or motion of the universe os evolution. Nothing is wholly new; there
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is some primordium or rudiment or archetype of whatever exists. Consciousness is not new, but the direction of evolution is toward cerebralisation--"Among the infinite modalities in which the complilcation of life is dispersed," the "differentiation of nervous tissue stands out...as a significant transformation". It provides a direction/ vector. Evolution went straight to work on the brain (except for plants, except for insects), neglecting everything else. Here he describes the "noogenesis", the birth of higher consciousness, and the noosphere, where it is deployed.I love the imaginative turn of phrase and am not put off, as more scientific persons (Doctor Medawar) may be by adjectives. To avoid persecution, the author had to add layers of edits and apologia, often just getting in more trouble with the dogmatists. This work contains his "Epiloque", "Postscript", and "Appendix" -- the latter emphasizing the evolutionary vector on the horizon of time, in which "the human epic resembles nothing so much as a way of the Cross." !! Brilliant save.
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LibraryThing member mbmackay
A dreadful disappointment. The author has a reputation not supported by the content of this rubbish - psycho babble mixed with a discussion of human origins now conclusively known to be wrong.
Read in Samoa Sept 2002.
Read in Samoa Sept 2002.
LibraryThing member P_S_Patrick
This is a difficult book to review, as I wasn't sure what to make of it as a whole. It varies between the brilliant and the confusing, possibly nonsense.
Considering that it was originally written in the 1930s,it starts off very well in giving an overview of the stuff of the universe, and the
Where this books starts to lose the reader is through the introduction and use of several new words for concepts that the author is introducing. Some of these can be justified and aid the understanding, whereas others just serve to confuse the reader, or leave questions as to whether the author is discussing a mystical concept, a philosophical concept, or a scientific concept. Without these problems the arguments presented in this book would have been easier to follow.
What remains though, is that the author was a visionary, including his prediction and discussion of noogenesis and the formation of the noosphere (two of the words he coins here), or in other words the growth of intelligence in a sense as an extension from the physical confines of the human mind, and its encapsulation of the earth. This mirrors in a lot of its details what we have recently seen with the progression of the world wide web or "cyberspace". There are other lines of thought that he reflects on extensively, including the future evolution of the human species, and he was among the first to attempt to tackle many of the difficult questions concerning this. He promotes a global society, without racial segregation, while at the same time seriously exploring ideas of genetic engineering and ethical approaches to eugenics, and technological enhancement (what might be termed transhumanism by some people today). He follows this to an ultimate evolutionary stage that he terms the "Omega Point", some kind of apex of consciousness, spiritual development, social development, etc. This is where the book reaches its peak science fiction levels, possibly straying into mysticism, and I was confused by the argument he put forward to how this all worked. He makes it clear that it is only speculation, but he does speculate very seriously on what to me seemed like quite a tenuous concept.
So, it would be difficult to recommend this book without reservation due to some of its metaphysical aspects which will test the patience of many readers expecting a clearer cut scientific work. Indeed, it was not evident in many places, increasingly toward the end of the book, whether there was anything of substance in some of the discussions due to the obfuscating terminology. However, as a provocation for thought, this book is not in short supply of inspiration, and much worth reading is interspersed among the more tenuous sections.
Considering that it was originally written in the 1930s,it starts off very well in giving an overview of the stuff of the universe, and the
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evolution of complex life, starting from the atom and moving upward through molecular self-replicating units and to ourselves. This is very well informed for its day, and captures the wonder of the world around us, physics, and evolution. Its content, and the excitement of scientific understanding is quite comparable to some of the writing of Dawkins. There are a small number of errors here and there but they are due to the incomplete scientific understanding of that age, and do not mar the gist of the first few chapters.Where this books starts to lose the reader is through the introduction and use of several new words for concepts that the author is introducing. Some of these can be justified and aid the understanding, whereas others just serve to confuse the reader, or leave questions as to whether the author is discussing a mystical concept, a philosophical concept, or a scientific concept. Without these problems the arguments presented in this book would have been easier to follow.
What remains though, is that the author was a visionary, including his prediction and discussion of noogenesis and the formation of the noosphere (two of the words he coins here), or in other words the growth of intelligence in a sense as an extension from the physical confines of the human mind, and its encapsulation of the earth. This mirrors in a lot of its details what we have recently seen with the progression of the world wide web or "cyberspace". There are other lines of thought that he reflects on extensively, including the future evolution of the human species, and he was among the first to attempt to tackle many of the difficult questions concerning this. He promotes a global society, without racial segregation, while at the same time seriously exploring ideas of genetic engineering and ethical approaches to eugenics, and technological enhancement (what might be termed transhumanism by some people today). He follows this to an ultimate evolutionary stage that he terms the "Omega Point", some kind of apex of consciousness, spiritual development, social development, etc. This is where the book reaches its peak science fiction levels, possibly straying into mysticism, and I was confused by the argument he put forward to how this all worked. He makes it clear that it is only speculation, but he does speculate very seriously on what to me seemed like quite a tenuous concept.
So, it would be difficult to recommend this book without reservation due to some of its metaphysical aspects which will test the patience of many readers expecting a clearer cut scientific work. Indeed, it was not evident in many places, increasingly toward the end of the book, whether there was anything of substance in some of the discussions due to the obfuscating terminology. However, as a provocation for thought, this book is not in short supply of inspiration, and much worth reading is interspersed among the more tenuous sections.
Show Less
LibraryThing member charlenet
I love this.
Original publication date
1955