Philosophy of Science

The Phenomenon of Man

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Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

1955

The Phenomenon of Man is Teilhard de Chardin's magnum opus: a visionary synthesis of evolutionary science and Christian theology that traces the entire arc of cosmic development from the origin of matter to the ultimate convergence of consciousness. Teilhard argues that evolution is not a random process but a directional movement — the universe moving from simple matter (the geosphere), through life (the biosphere), to reflective consciousness (the noosphere). The noosphere — the sphere of collective human thought — is itself evolving toward an ultimate point of convergence and intensification of consciousness that Teilhard calls the Omega Point. This Omega Point is at once the attractor of cosmic evolution and, for Teilhard, identified with the cosmic Christ. The book blends phenomenology, palaeontology, and theology into a vision of creation as a process of personalisation and unification — deeply controversial in its day and enormously influential in the decades that followed.