The Biophilosophy of Teilhard de Chardin

Abstract

The scientist Teilhard de Chardin, malgré lui, was a philosopher. Nevertheless, his biophilosophy has not been studied in depth. Three days befo re his death, he synthesized his thought: Cosmos= Cosmogenesis = Biogenenesis = Noogenesis = Christogenesis. There, we have the main insights which he tried to clarify in his writings: Iife on Earth is a quality of organized matter and it supposes a pre-biological chemical evolution. The cell is the elemental form of life, just as the atom is in relation to matter. The first organisms (prokaryotes) tended to join together, which, by symbiosis, resulted in the eukaryotic cell; these cells were bound in an increasing complexity by life trends: reproduction, multiplication, renewal, conjugation, society and directed activity. Since there is an attraction of masses, there is a gravity in the complexity that defines an ascending line from the bacteria to man that Teilhard called deep orthogenesis. Everything has an interior or consciousness growing in complexity; consequently, the biogenesis leads to anthropogenesis.