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MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE

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Pub Date: Sept. 14th, 1966
Publisher: Harper & Row

Teilhard projected a detailed study of his view of the genesis of man which was never finished. This little volume, however, presents in closely reasoned form his view of man's place in the structure of nature, and the meaning he embodies in it. In the ""ascent"" of man lies the profound significance of the cosmos. Concepts made familiar in various writings of Teilhard previously published reappear here--the ""self-involution of creation,"" the spread of the biosphere, the rise of ""hominization"" and reflection, leading to the ""planetization"" of thought, and the future prospect in the totalization man, with the ""psychic interiorization"" that finds its ultimate fulfillment in the of ""Omega Point."" The treatment differs from some of the earlier writings (this work first appeared in French in 1949) in the omission of any theological references or concepts. Only in the last paragraph does God appear, as ""Mover, Gatherer, Consolidator."" This little book will be welcomed by the widespread number of adherents and students of Teilhard de Chardin, a circle far outside traditional church and theological reaches.