Teilhardian Evolutionism: A philosophical reconsideration

Abstract

Philosophers, right from the Classical Greek period, have grappled with the problem of the origin, nature, and future of the universe. On one pole of the debate evolutionists who see the universe as an organism in the process of cosmic evolution. On the other pole of the debate are creationists who hold that reality was created by a supreme being. Interestingly, this debate has led to heated disagreements between these two rival camps. In the face of this problem, this work explores the view of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who proposes a unique theory of evolution which integrates some ideas of the creationists. This cosmic evolution, according to him, is the ongoing and unfolding process of the creative impulse, which is personalized in the human person until it reaches its apex in personal relationship with the transcendent at the Omega Point. This work attempts to expose Teilhard de Chardin’s entire theory of cosmic evolution; the stages of the process of cosmic evolution, the laws which govern the process and the end to which it tends, that is, the Omega Point. It points out the strengths and weaknesses of his arguments as well as the implications of his entire theory for the present human society. In the final analysis, this research work maintains that despite its obvious downsides, Teilhard de Chardin’s Evolutionism is remarkable for its synthesis of science with religion, its revelation of the uniqueness of the emergence of internet in the evolutionary continuum and its prognostication of a glorious future predestined for the cosmos from the very onset of evolution. Analytic method of research was employed.