Teilhard De Chardin; The Omega Point and the Noosphere
Summary
TLDRThis script delves into the concept of teleology, tracing its roots in Aristotle's philosophy to its decline in modern science. It explores the work of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who posited a universe with an inherent teleological direction towards complexity and consciousness, culminating in the 'Omega Point.' Challenging the mechanistic view of evolution, the script discusses the convergence of life forms and the potential for a planetary consciousness, suggesting a cosmos driven by a unifying, yet diverse, teleological force.
Takeaways
- 📚 The concept of teleology, which involves the idea of purpose or end goals in nature, fell out of favor in the late 19th and 20th centuries in academic sciences and philosophy.
- 🎓 Aristotle's philosophy introduced the term 'Telos' with four distinct forms: material, efficient, formal, and final Telos, which were foundational in understanding the entities in the world.
- 🔍 With the rise of reductionist materialism, especially after the works of Galileo and Descartes, teleology became separated from causation, leading to a focus on material and efficient causes in scientific discourse.
- 🌐 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a French paleontologist and cosmologist who diverged from the anti-teleological trend, seeking to reconcile evolution with Christian theology and proposing the idea of the Omega Point.
- 🧬 De Chardin's work, 'The Phenomenon of Man,' written in the 1930s but published posthumously in 1955, explored the idea of evolution having an inherent teleological direction towards human consciousness and the Omega Point.
- 👥 De Chardin's ideas were controversial, facing opposition from both the scientific community and the Catholic Church, yet he remained a significant figure in discussions of evolution and spirituality.
- 🧠 De Chardin noted a convergence in human evolution, contrary to the general pattern of divergence seen in other biological groups, suggesting a 'lure' towards a singular form of existence.
- 🦀 The script discusses 'convergence' in evolution, exemplified by phenomena like 'carcinization' in crabs and the independent development of complex eyes, indicating a less random evolutionary process.
- 🌌 De Chardin's cosmology proposes that the universe has an inherent teleological direction, moving towards increased complexity and consciousness, culminating in the Omega Point, a state of ultimate unity and synthesis.
- 🔮 The script raises questions about the existence of the Omega Point and the ultimate fate of the universe, considering modern astrophysics and the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead as potential complements to de Chardin's ideas.
- 🤔 The discussion concludes by emphasizing the significance of de Chardin's ambitious attempt to understand the universe, human existence, and the nature of reality, despite the controversies and challenges his ideas faced.
Q & A
What is the concept of teleology and why did it fall out of favor in the late 19th and 20th centuries?
-Teleology is a philosophical concept derived from ancient Greece, particularly significant in Aristotle's thinking, referring to the inherent purpose or end (Telos) of entities in the world. It fell out of favor due to the rise of reductionist materialism, which separated teleology from causation, leading to a scientific paradigm that rejected teleological explanations for natural phenomena.
What are the four distinct forms of Telos as described by Aristotle?
-Aristotle described four forms of Telos: material Telos (the matter of which an entity is made), efficient Telos (the action or process that brings an entity into being), formal Telos (the form or design of the entity), and final Telos (the purpose or end for which the entity exists).
How did the understanding of causation and teleology change with the advent of modern science?
-With the rise of modern science, particularly with figures like Galileo and Descartes, causation and teleology became conceptually separated. Material and efficient Telos were seen as causal in a fundamental sense, while formal and final Telos were considered relevant mainly to human activity or divine intervention.
Who was Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and how did his work diverge from the prevailing anti-teleological trend?
-Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a French paleontologist and cosmologist who passionately pursued both natural science and religiosity. His work diverged from the anti-teleological trend by attempting to reconcile evolution with a sense of purpose, influenced by the works of philosophers like Henri Bergson.
What is the significance of Teilhard de Chardin's concept of the Omega Point in his cosmology?
-The Omega Point in Teilhard de Chardin's cosmology represents the ultimate unification of all reality within a cosmic synthesis of consciousness. It is seen as the final Telos or purpose of the cosmos, towards which all evolution is directed, and it implies a teleological drive in the universe.
How does Teilhard de Chardin view the evolution of life and the cosmos?
-Teilhard de Chardin views the evolution of life and the cosmos as a process driven by an inherent teleological impulse towards the realization of complex life forms, culminating in human existence and potentially a cosmic consciousness or Omega Point.
What is the concept of 'Noogenesis' as introduced by Teilhard de Chardin?
-Noogenesis, in Teilhard de Chardin's work, refers to the emergence of a planetary consciousness or 'Noosphere,' a stage in the evolution of the Earth where human consciousness envelops the planet, leading to a unified, conscious regulation of the Earth's future.
How does the script discuss the potential limitations or oversights in Teilhard de Chardin's cosmology?
-The script raises questions about why diversity, dissonance, and chaos exist if the cosmos is ultimately directed towards synthesis. It also contrasts Teilhard's ideas with modern astrophysics, which suggests a universe destined for dissolution rather than unification, and with Alfred North Whitehead's process philosophy, which views cosmic synthesis as a continual process rather than a future state.
What is the anthropic principle and why is it considered an unsatisfactory explanation in the context of the script?
-The anthropic principle is an argument that the properties of the cosmos must be such that they allow for the emergence of complex life, as we are here to observe them. The script considers it unsatisfactory because it does not account for the actual universe we find ourselves in and assumes a specific kind of Multiverse, which may not necessarily exist.
What is the phenomenon of 'convergence' in evolution as discussed in the script?
-Convergence in evolution refers to the process where distinct species from different evolutionary lineages develop similar features, such as 'crabness' or the development of complex eyes, indicating a drive towards certain archetypal forms that are effective and versatile.
How does the script address the idea of human evolution as a significant development in the evolutionary journey of life on Earth?
-The script addresses human evolution as a significant development by highlighting how hominid evolution appears to converge on a single form, with increases in brain size, bipedal locomotion, and other characteristics that led to language, complex social organization, and tool usage, suggesting a teleological drive towards the realization of human potential.
Outlines
📚 The Decline of Teleology in Modern Science
This paragraph delves into the historical shift away from teleology in academic sciences and philosophy, tracing its roots to ancient Greek philosophy and Aristotle's concept of 'Telos'. It explains the four forms of Telos and how the idea of purpose within causation was separated with the rise of reductionist materialism. The paragraph also introduces the modern scientific paradigm that rejects teleological explanations in favor of mechanical processes and randomness, with a note on the dissenting views of some philosophers and scientists.
🌟 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: A Visionary Thinker
The second paragraph introduces Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a French paleontologist and cosmologist whose work diverged from the mainstream anti-teleological trend. Influenced by the works of Andre Bergson, Chardin sought to reconcile his scientific and religious interests. The paragraph outlines his journey from being ordained as a Jesuit priest to his experiences in World War I and his significant contributions to paleontology, all while highlighting the controversy surrounding his ideas and the challenges he faced from both the scientific and religious establishments.
🔬 The Phenomenon of Man and the Convergence of Evolution
This paragraph discusses Chardin's major work 'The Phenomenon of Man', which explores the idea of convergence in evolution, challenging the notion of evolution as a purely random process. It highlights the unique pattern of human evolution, which appears to converge on a single form, unlike the divergence seen in other biological groups. The text also touches on the concept of 'carcinization', where different species converge on a crab-like form, suggesting an inherent drive towards certain archetypal forms in nature.
🦀 The Archetype of Crabness and Evolutionary Convergences
The fourth paragraph expands on the idea of convergence in evolution, using 'carcinization' as an example of how different species evolve similar features independently. It also discusses the phenomenon of eyes evolving independently in various species, suggesting a structured landscape of potential forms in evolution. The paragraph challenges the assumption of randomness in evolution and introduces the concept of 'archetypes' that shape evolutionary developments.
🌌 The Cosmic Journey Towards the Omega Point
This paragraph presents Chardin's view of the cosmos as having an inherent teleological impulse, moving towards the realization of complex life forms and ultimately an 'Omega Point'. It discusses the fundamental properties of matter that enable the development of life and the idea of the universe being driven by an 'attractor' or 'transcendental object'. The text also addresses the anthropic principle and its limitations in explaining the observed properties of the universe.
🧬 The Nature of Biological Life and Evolution
The sixth paragraph examines the nature of biological life through Chardin's lens, focusing on the fundamental modalities that shape life and its evolution, such as self-organization, growth, and reproduction. It introduces the concept of 'Eros' in life, manifesting as processes of conjugation and association, leading to increased novelty and complexity. The paragraph also touches on the idea of 'sympoiesis', a cooperative process of self-creation that contributes to the evolution of life.
🧠 Cephalization and the Evolution of Consciousness
This paragraph discusses the process of 'cephalization', where organisms develop complex nervous systems and centralized cognitive processes, leading to the emergence of the brain. It outlines the evolutionary developments that have contributed to increased cognitive complexity, such as the development of vertebra and skeletal structures, mammary glands, and the placenta. The text suggests that these developments are not accidental but fundamental to the progression of life towards realizing its innate potentials.
🌐 The Emergence of the Noosphere and Planetary Consciousness
The eighth paragraph explores Chardin's concept of the 'Noosphere', a planetary consciousness emerging from the Earth's biosphere as human technology and consciousness evolve. It discusses the potential for human civilization to create a unified, conscious system for the regulation of the Earth's future. The text also contemplates the significance of human awareness of time and the role of human consciousness in steering the evolutionary process.
🛕 The Omega Point: Cosmic Synthesis and Redemption
This paragraph delves into Chardin's theological and cosmological significance of the 'Omega Point', viewing it as the ultimate unification of all reality within a cosmic synthesis of consciousness. It discusses the Omega Point as a state of ultimate harmony and redemption for the cosmos, encompassing past, present, and future. The text also raises questions about the existence of diversity and chaos if the cosmos is ultimately directed towards synthesis.
🌌 The Polarity of Cosmic Evolution: Chardin and Whitehead
The final paragraph contrasts Chardin's cosmology with that of Alfred North Whitehead, suggesting that while Chardin envisions a future state of ultimate synthesis, Whitehead proposes a continual realization of synthesis in every moment of existence. It discusses the potential compatibility of both views, acknowledging the continuous process of actualization within cosmic evolution and the role of contrast and difference in achieving the ultimate aim of cosmic evolution.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Teleology
💡Aristotle
💡Reductionist Materialism
💡Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
💡Convergence
💡Cephalization
💡Noosphere
💡Omega Point
💡Anthropic Principle
💡Symbiogenesis
💡Process Philosophy
Highlights
The concept of teleology, which fell out of favor in the late 19th and 20th centuries, is explored in the context of Aristotle's philosophy, including his four distinct forms of Telos.
Aristotle's four forms of Telos (material, efficient, formal, and final) are explained using the example of a statue, illustrating the different underlying factors shaping entities in the world.
The rise of reductionist materialism post-Galileo and Descartes led to a separation of teleology from causation, with only the formal and final Telos being seen as relevant to human or divine activity.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's divergence from anti-teleological reductionism is highlighted, influenced by his passion for natural science and religiosity.
Teilhard de Chardin's experiences from World War I and his theological influences shaped his views on the convergence of human evolution towards a singular form.
Teilhard de Chardin's controversial ideas and their conflict with the Catholic Church are discussed, including the official decree against his works.
The phenomenon of 'convergence' in evolution, such as in the case of 'carcinization' and the development of complex eyes, is presented as evidence against the randomness of evolutionary outcomes.
The 'Omega Point' theory by Teilhard de Chardin is introduced, suggesting the cosmos is driven towards a final state of unification within a cosmic consciousness.
The critique of the anthropic principle is presented, arguing against the idea that the universe's properties are solely due to the necessity for complex life's emergence.
The concept of 'sympoiesis' by Donna Haraway is mentioned, expanding on the idea of self-creation in biological life and its role in evolution.
Teilhard de Chardin's view of human evolution as a 'harmonization' process leading to the emergence of Homo sapiens as a culmination of cognitive development.
The idea of 'Noogenesis' is discussed, referring to the emergence of a planetary consciousness as humanity develops global interconnectedness.
The potential theological implications of the Omega Point are explored, with connections drawn to Christian concepts of redemption and the spirit of Christ.
Objections to Teilhard de Chardin's cosmology are raised, questioning why multiplicity and chaos exist if the cosmos is ultimately directed towards synthesis.
A comparison with Alfred North Whitehead's process philosophy is suggested as a way to reconcile discrepancies between Teilhard de Chardin's and modern astrophysics' views on the universe's fate.
The video concludes by emphasizing the significance of Teilhard de Chardin's ambitious attempt to understand the universe, life, consciousness, and the nature of reality.
Transcripts
the concept of teleology is one which
over the course of the late 19th and
20th centuries came to fall heavily out
of favor within the Realms of academic
sciences and anglophone analytic
philosophy
Telos is a term derived from the
philosophy of ancient Greece and was
particularly significant within the
thinking of Aristotle
Telos is often translated as the word
cause though this rendition of the
concept can be rather misleading as we
will see
Aristotle wrote of four distinct forms
of Telos each being one of the
underlying factors which gave shape to
the entities which we encounter in the
world
these were the material Telos the
efficient Telos the formal Telos and the
final Telos
we can understand this conceptual
framework by looking at the example of a
statue
the material tell us of the statue is
the marble out of which the statue is
made the efficient Telos consists of the
actual chiseling the physical work which
goes into creating the statue
the formal Telos consists of the formal
Elements which the statue's Creator
seeks to realize in the creation of the
statue the ideas Concepts or aesthetic
principles which guide the statute's
creation
the final Telos then is the purpose of
the statue the reason why it is created
what purpose it serves or what its
creation attempts to achieve
within this form of thinking causation
and purpose are understood to be of a
common essence
for the ancient Greek mind purposiveness
was seen as an inherent aspect of the
natural world a fundamental principle
among the forces which give shape to the
world
with the rise of reductionist
materialism beginning with the works of
figures such as Galileo and Renee
Descartes teleology would come to be
conceptually separated from causation
the material and efficient telloy would
come to be understood as causal in a
fundamental sense and today it is common
for the word causation to refer
specifically to either the physical
impacts of certain events upon others
that is efficient telloy or to the
material constituency of an object or
process that is what materials compose
things or material telloy
the term teleology then came to refer
specifically to the formal Telos and
final Telos
within the Paradigm of reductionist
materialism efficient and material
telloy were regarded as fundamental to
reality while formal and final telloy
came to be regarded as only relevant to
the realm of human activity or to the
activity of God
the modern mind came to see that the
world was primarily composed of mere
matter and that such matter lacking
agency or Consciousness was simply an
inert kind of substance which was shaped
entirely by efficient and material
causation unless the influence of human
or divine intervention came into play
materialism resulted in a bifurcation of
teleology from causality and this
bifurcation mirrored the corresponding
bifurcation of mind and matter
thus the standard Paradigm of modern
science gradually attempted to purge
teleological thinking from scientific
discourse
science came to be regarded as an
understanding of the world which reduced
all apparent purposiveness of the
natural world to the mechanical
unfolding of processes which were
ultimately blind meaningless and random
this trend of anti-teleology would
become an entrenched Dogma by the early
20th century but this form of thought
was far from universally accepted by
either philosophers or scientists
one thinker who would radically diverge
from this tendency of anti-teleological
reductionism was the French
paleontologist and cosmologist Pierre
tejhard deshardan
born 1881 chardan was a man who was
possessed by a passion for both Natural
Science and religiosity
he was influenced very early in his
scientific career by The Works of Andre
Berkson particularly by bergson's
creative evolution in which bergson
articulated an understanding of life
nature and evolution which contrasted
drastically with the mechanistic
materialism which had come to dominate
the discourse of established scientific
institutions
in 1911 at the age of 30 Chardon was
officially ordained as a priest of the
Jesuit order
the first world war would only come to
strength and chardon's sense of
religious conviction serving as a
stretcher Bearer for the eighth Moroccan
rifles of the French colonial army
chardan would describe his experience in
the war as a quote meeting with the
absolute end quote
in this statement we can see an
indication of Sheridan's sense of
religiosity
one colored by the metaphysics and
phenomenological Theology of German
idealism and French spiritualism
in 1923 chardan would travel to China
where he would participate in geological
and paleontological research which
included the discovery of the now famous
Peking man hominid fossils
due to his continued interest in
evolutionary and geological history
chardan was forced by his superiors
within the Jesuit order to resign from
his position at the Catholic Institute
of Paris
among both scientists and his fellow
Catholics Chardon was an immensely
controversial figure and the holy office
of Pope John the 23rd even administered
an official decree which derided
shardan's works as both erroneous and
dangerous
Chardon was faced with burning questions
from both Realms of his life and career
on the one hand were the realities of
violence cruelty suffering and seemingly
senseless
industrialized Slaughter of his fellow
human beings which he experienced during
the first World War
on the other was the image of human
Natural History which was increasingly
coming into Focus through the
compounding of
paleoanthropological evidence
both dimensions of chardon's Life seem
to demand an answer to the same
underlying question what meaning can be
found in the great Narrative of the
human journey of the coming to being of
homo sapiens and of the unfathomably
glacial processions of geological time
which had slowly generated the
conditions for human existence
how and why did we arrive at this
peculiar moment of cosmic history and to
what end is this vast Journey ultimately
aimed
in his attempts to answer these
questions Jordan would compose his most
significant work the phenomenon of man
though this work was written during the
1930s due to the controversy surrounding
Chardonnay and his ideas the book would
not be published until 1955 following
his death
the phenomenon of man would subsequently
be translated into English and forwarded
by chardan's longtime colleague Julian
Huxley who is himself an immensely
significant figure in the history of
evolutionary thought
Julian Huxley and his brother the
groundbreaking novelist and philosopher
Aldous Huxley were the grandchildren of
Thomas Henry Huxley the biologist and
Anthropologist who had been dubbed
Darwin's Bulldog due to his polemical
defenses of darwinian theory during the
late 19th century
Julian in many ways followed in the
footsteps of his grandfather and became
one of the most prominent figures in the
development of the neo-darwinian
synthesis a framework which would become
the prevailing Paradigm of evolutionary
theory throughout the 20th century
in his forward to the phenomenon of man
Huxley is unhesitant to remark his
reservations about some of chardon's
ideas at least with regard to the manner
in which chardan attempts to reconcile
and synthesize his evolutionary
narrative with his Christian theological
doctrines
nevertheless even huxley's own views
regarding religiosity were much more
nuanced than a blunt and simplistic
atheism
in 1969 he wrote
quote many people assert that this
abandonment of the god hypothesis means
the abandonment of all religion and all
moral sanctions this is simply not true
but it does mean once our relief at
jettisoning and outdated piece of
ideological Furniture is over that we
must construct something to take its
place
philosophy is certainly not one which
could be described as an abandonment of
a god hypothesis is nonetheless the case
that shardam was seeking a solution to
the problem which Huxley clearly saw
Dan sought a way to reconcile the human
sense of meaning purpose Transcendence
and Divinity with the complex realities
which were being revealed by the
advances of scientific naturalism
Jordan saw the empirical evidence
afforded by paleoanthropology as itself
indicative of something peculiar about
the place of humankind and evolutionary
history and Huxley indicates within his
forward that he saw chardine's insights
here to be accurate chardan notes that
with regards to most biological groups
we find a common pattern of Divergence
and diversification
Darwin's finches for example all share a
common ancestor yet as these creatures
spread out across the Galapagos Islands
separate groups began to diverge and
their physiology behavior and ecological
roles
overall this process of Divergence is
seen throughout evolutionary history yet
with the Journey of human evolution we
see instead what seems to be almost the
exact opposite process at work
rather than a Fanning out of
diversification hominid Evolution
instead appears as a convergence upon a
single form
though many forms of hominids have
existed within the roughly four to six
million years which have elapsed since
our Divergence from the great apes
the progression of hominid Evolution
seems to have been a consistent motion
towards the realization of the same
possibility
within almost every step of the hominid
Journey we see increases in brain size
and a concerted development of bipedal
locomotion and other physiological
characteristics all of which predisposed
us towards the eventual development of
language complex social organization and
Tool usage
hominid Evolution rather than resulting
in a diverse array of unique and
separate forms instead has converged
upon a singular form which seems to be
the realization of a possibility which
lured hominid Evolution forward from our
most primordial Origins and into the
present condition of a singular extant
hominid species
though the coming to being of homo
sapiens may be the most significant
development in The evolutionary journey
of Life on this planet
it is actually not the only example of
such an evolutionary lure
one other example which I see is
illustrative of a very similar process
can be seen in the evolutionary tendency
which zoologists refer to as
carsonization
carsonization refers to the apparent
tendency of certain invertebrates from a
diverse variety of evolutionary lineages
to converge upon a crab-like form
common characteristics among species
which have undergone carcinization
include drastically reduced abdomen size
the broadening and flattening of the
cephalothorax and a number of other
oddly specific features such as sexual
dimorphism which seems to be specialized
to accommodate a crab-like morphology
these distinct species do not share
these common crab-like characteristics
because they all share a common ancestor
which possessed such features many of
these crabs belong to evolutionary taxo
which are not closely related yet
nevertheless we see here a convergence
of numerous features Within These
distinct groups
is commonly assumed that evolution is
essentially a random process which would
imply that if we were to rewind the
clock of natural history and replay the
evolution of life on Earth
that we would be likely to see radically
different outcomes if minor
contingencies were able to result in
massive alterations over time
evolution is understood to be an
algorithmic process which essentially
acts upon mutational dice rolls and if
the dice weren't rolled again then the
outcomes of evolutionary processes would
come to be radically different
yet with this process of carsonization
we see an indication that this
assumption may be misplaced
carsonization seems to indicate that
crabness maybe something more like a
kind of archetypal form one which many
different forms of creatures come to be
lured towards due to the effectiveness
and versatility of this archetype
if we were to find life on another
planet assuming that life on this
hypothetical planet is similar to life
on Earth and certain fundamental aspects
such as being carbon based and cellular
then we probably wouldn't be too
surprised to find something resembling a
crab and we might even be able to make
predictions about the behavior and
internal physiology of such Creatures
based on what we know about crab-like
creatures here on Earth
crabness then could be regarded as a
kind of structure of potentiality
certain possible organic features seem
to go hand in hand independently of
historical contingencies and thus the
crab archetype is something which we can
see as realizing itself within distinct
biological lineages and time periods
we see an even more dramatic example of
such convergence in the phenomenon of
eyes
scientists believe that complex eyes
have evolved more than one and a half
thousand times throughout the course of
evolution
having eyes is a very good trick and a
huge variety of creatures have thus
developed the same archetypal feature
independently of one another
if we look for examples of such
phenomena throughout nature we find that
such archetypal convergences appear to
be the rule rather than the exception
the extinct Family emphasiana Day
consisted of dog-like creatures which
shared many physiological
characteristics with bears
though not directly related to Modern
Bears these creatures nevertheless
evolved very similar features presumably
due to occupying a very similar
ecological niche likewise many distinct
groups of creatures have throughout
evolutionary history developed very
shrew-like characteristics we could say
that the Shrew archetype is a structure
of potentiality which has been realized
by a many distinct evolutionary Pathways
by numerous biological lineages within
distinct time periods and Geographic
habitats
thus it appears that evolution is much
less random than we might otherwise
assume as the landscape of potential
forms which Evolution might come to
actualize is a landscape which has
certain defined structural features
despite the immense diversity of forms
contained within it a number of distinct
archetypes come to give shape to
evolutionary developments and
evolutionary diversification might be
seen as being a process by which
pathways are carved out which allow for
the realization of such archetypes
in looking at the history of hominid
Evolution chardan sees a similar process
at work yet one with much more profound
implications for our overall
understanding of evolutionary history
itself
Jordan sees the entire course of
evolutionary history as a process which
seems to be aimed towards the eventual
coming into being of homo sapiens or at
least something very much like us which
would be an actualization of the same
underlying archetype that is humankind
what's a pathway towards the
actualization of this archetype came to
be opened our hominid ancestors seem to
have made a very directional b line
toward such actualization
within the phenomenon of man chardan
sketches out the history of evolution
not just of the evolution of life on
Earth but the evolution of the cosmos as
a whole
in such a way as to illustrate what he
sees as an inherent teleological impulse
directed towards the realization of
biological life complex multicellularity
centralized nervous systems human
existence and ultimately a grand
convergence upon what he terms the Omega
point
and chardan's view the evolution of the
cosmos is not at all the random
purposeless Meandering of inert
mechanical causation
rather the cosmos we inhabit is indeed
driven towards a kind of attractor or
what Terence McKenna would describe as a
transcendental object at the end of
History
a potentiality which as a sort of
teleological gravity pulls time itself
towards its realization
in the phenomenon of man chardan begins
his exploration by looking to the nature
of pre-biological matter itself
the fundamental building blocks which
comprise our Cosmos
Jordan explains that even in its most
rudimentary and pre-biological state
matter itself can be seen as expressing
certain fundamental characteristics
which lay a groundwork from which the
Journey of life might then spring forth
these are characteristics which might
seem so Universal and so obvious that we
may not even notice them yet these
properties of matter are immensely
significant within the context of the
grand creative teleological Advance
which Jordan sees in Cosmic evolution
matter consists of basic elements which
exhibit multiplicity as well as
uniformity
there are innumerable electrons photons
and hydrogen atoms which comprise our
Cosmos yet each of these particular
categories is itself entirely uniform
every individual electron behaves
exactly like every other electron and
every proton is identical to every other
proton this might not seem at first to
be a very consequential observation but
it is rather easy to imagine that things
might have been different
we can easily imagine a world comprised
of particles which each behaved in
unique ways without adhering to strict
categories a world in which every unique
building block acted in accordance with
its own unique properties
we could just as easily imagine a world
which was comprised of only one entity a
singular particle which did not behave
consistently at all but rather which
seemed to act in accordance with
principles which changed dramatically
from moment to moment
yet the properties of matter which we do
in fact observe within our world seem to
be exactly the kinds of properties which
would be necessary for the eventual
development of life
this duality of uniformity and
multiplicity seems to provide exactly
the conditions which would be necessary
for the fundamental entities of our
world to be able to come together so as
to develop novel forms of complexity
through the integration of Multiplicity
it's usually at this point that Skeptics
of such teleological narratives would
point to the so-called anthropic
principle
this principle is actually an argument
which states that the properties of the
cosmos must conform to whatever
conditions are necessary for the
emergence of complex life
if a cosmos were not characterized by
such properties then so the argument
goes there would be no observers within
such a universe which could take note of
its properties yet we humans are
certainly here and certainly able to
consider the properties of the universe
as they are as such the only real
possibility is that we should find a
universe which looks as though it were
conditioned specifically for the
emergence of complex life
there is much more to be said about this
line of reasoning than what I can say
here but before moving forward I would
like to outline some reasons why I see
this anthropic principle as an
unsatisfactory and misleading
explanation
to begin the anthropic principle assumes
that the only possible observers which
could exist in any Universe are
observers like us which evolved through
the gradual complexification of
Consciousness through biological
evolution yet we don't necessarily have
reason to believe that that is the case
to illustrate why let us look at a
thought experiment known as the
boltzmann brain
within the boltzmann brain thought
experiment we are asked to imagine a
universe which is infinite or at least
incomprehensibly fast which is subject
to Quantum fluctuations and fluctuations
of thermodynamic equilibrium
most of this universe would consist of
essentially nothing except for tiny
unnoticeable and inconsequential
fluctuations which rapidly Decay back
into the abyss of thermodynamic
equilibrium from which they arose
yet if we imagine this universe to be
temporally infinite or at least to exist
over a mentally vast time scales than
simply due to the nature of random
chance eventually a complex intelligence
would spontaneously emerge from this
abyss of random fluctuations
such a boltzmann brain would find itself
within a truly meaningless universe and
such a mind would then reasonably
conclude that it came into being for no
reason as it did indeed come into being
due to fluctuations of genuinely
meaningless noise
now it isn't terribly important here
whether boltzmann brains actually exist
or if such universes of purely random
fluctuations are actually out there
somewhere within some hypothetical
Multiverse
what is important however is that the
bolts membrane thought experiment
illustrates a crucial flaw in the
anthropic principle argument
it is at the very least logically
possible that we could have found
ourselves to be boltzmann brains looking
out at a cosmos comprised only of
meaningless noise there is nothing which
bars that possibility and yet the
universe we do indeed find ourselves
within is not one of Such Noise
rather what we find is a universe within
which the most fundamental properties of
reality seem to be pregnant with the
possibility of complexification and thus
ultimately the actualization of complex
cellular life
the anthropic principle argument also
assumes the existence of a very
particular kind of Multiverse
now it may very well be the case that we
exist within some kind of Multiverse and
cosmologists have entertained many
different forms of Multiverse theories
yet for the anthropic principle argument
to actually work we must assume that our
universe is part of a very specific kind
of Multiverse
in order to explain the apparent latency
of life within our own Universe by
invoking the anthropic principle we must
assume that our universe is one of
innumerable universes and that each of
these separate universes are conditioned
by fundamental principles that are
essentially determined at random within
such a vast Multiverse most universes
would be entirely lifeless and inert and
most would consist of essentially
nothing
yet due to the random dice rolls which
determine the fundamental laws of these
individual universes some of these
universes would be bestowed the
necessary preconditions for the eventual
emergence of complex life
and yet there is no actual reason
whatsoever to believe that such a
Multiverse actually exists it could just
as easily be the case that our universe
is part of a Multiverse in which every
individual universe is determined by the
exact same fundamental principles
likewise it could also very well be the
case that our own universe is the only
universe that actually exists and of
course the only Universe we actually
have any evidence of is our own Universe
in either case the anthropic principle
fails to account for that which actually
stands in need of explanation the actual
Universe we actually find ourselves
within and the properties which we find
it to have
saw this latent capacity for
complexification as indicative of a much
greater purposiveness which he saw as
conditioning the procession of cosmic
and biological evolution at Large
for chardan it is not simply that our
universe seems to be directed towards a
kind of ultimate goal but rather that
our universe is in fact directed towards
such an aim
this ultimate Telos or Omega point is
found within the grand scope of cosmic
Evolution and also in the very Bedrock
principles which govern the nature of
our reality at the most fundamental
levels
moving on to examine the nature of
biological life itself chardan sees a
clear continuation of this tendency
expanding upon the more basic
pre-biological processes of matter
biological life proceeds in accordance
with a number of certain modalities
which give shape to life and its
Evolution throughout time
along with self-organization growth
reproduction and incremental Innovation
life also exhibits a kind of fundamental
Eros by which life comes to synthesize
the diversities it is produced so as to
amplify and expand its own possibilities
Jordan describes this inner Eros in
terms of conjugation and Association
in the former case we have the processes
of sexual reproduction by which life is
able to blend with itself so as to
produce ever more forms of novelty and
thus by which new Pathways of
potentiality are opened to the
progression of evolution
in the latter case we have the
propensity of life for coalescing into
unities which transcend their individual
constituents mere groupings become
coordinated colonies and such colonies
come to be multicellular organizations
of specialized classes of cells tissues
organs and organ systems
this Eros is what the philosopher of
biology Donna haraway would describe as
sympoiasis
elaborating upon Francisco Valero's
notion of autopoiesis or self-creation
haraway understands sympoiesis to be a
kind of self-creation and other creation
through processes of mutualistic
participatory entanglements associations
conjugations and interweavings
life is a process of becoming and this
becoming is a process of continual
metamorphosis through ecological and
metabolic enfolding
it is through this sympoietic Eros that
as Alfred North Whitehead would say the
many become one and are increased by one
as Jordan sees it these features of Life
are not in any way accidental or
contingent but are rather fundamental to
the nature of life itself and thus
fundamental to their conditioning of the
trajectory of Life towards the
realization of the structures of
possibility which are latent within the
very nature of the cosmos which we
inhabit
moving forward through the history of
evolution chardan then brings our
attention to the process of
cephalization
organisms begin to develop complex
nervous systems and behavioral patterns
and we then begin to see the tendency of
life to organize its nervous structures
in such a way as to give rise to a
centralized Nexus of sensory and
cognitive processes we see the emergence
of the brain
over the course of hundreds of millions
of years we see a number of other
pivotal developments
vertebra and skeletal structures allow
creatures to develop larger brains and
greater overall size upon land
the development of mammary glands
internal gestation and eventually the
placenta allow for organisms to prolong
the development of Offspring thus
allowing for greater cognitive
plasticity organisms which must fend for
themselves as soon as they are born must
behave in instinctual ways which are
strictly determined by what has proven
effective in the past
conversely organisms which are afforded
longer periods of development and
infantile care have more time during
which brains can develop and in which
those brains can come to learn more
complex behavioral patterns which could
not have been strictly encoded by
heredity alone
Jordan sees the tree of life not as a
random walk of probabilistic
contingencies but rather as a feeling
forward of Life towards the realization
of its own innate potentials as we look
at the Fanning of the Tree of Life over
geological time we see that many
creatures come and go with the vast
majority of particular species coming to
be extinct over the course of
evolutionary development
yet we also see that new developments of
cognitive complexity are never relegated
to the sands of time upon each step of
this procession of cephalization and
cognitive complexification novel
developments are continually retained
and subsequently built upon by Evolution
certain forms come to be entrenched
particularly within certain groupings of
related ecological niches
jellyfish of the phyla tenofora and
nidaria for example have scarcely
changed it all over the course of the
over 500 million years in which they
have existed on our planet
yet with each evolutionary Epoch we see
a branching out of life's diversity in
which Innovations of complexity and
cognition are retained while forms which
are relevant only to very specific
ecological conditions more often become
extinct as the conditions of Earth's
biosphere come to mutate over geological
time frames
this gradual process has within the past
few million years resulted in the
emergence of humankind a process which
chardan refers to as harmonization
although the Journey of life is
certainly not yet complete we do have
some reason to believe that in terms of
neurophysiological development human
beings May indeed be a kind of final
ultimate achievement
having even larger brains is unlikely to
increase our intelligence as there are
diminishing returns to increases in
brain size and there are reasons to
believe that the current size of the
human brain is very close to that
threshold of diminishing returns and
cognitive capability
yet chardonn sees the emergence of
humanity and the development of human
civilization as being merely the
beginning of yet another process one
which is currently well underway and
which is planetary in proportion
as human beings have come to expand
across the globe and have proceeded from
mechanical Technologies towards the
emergence of information Technologies we
see the beginnings of what chardan dubs
Noah Genesis the emergence from the
Earth's biosphere of the NOAA sphere
although he wrote more than half a
century before the Advent of personal
computers or the internet chardan
predicted that the continuing
development of human consciousness would
come to result in a kind of planetary
nervous system by which human
consciousness would come to enfold upon
itself just as cellular life had once
enfolded so as to give rise to
multicellularity what chardan envisioned
was the gradual development of a kind of
planetary Consciousness which would
allow the Earth to continuously and
consciously direct its own regulation
and its own future
Jordan's vision is not one of ultimate
homogenization a future in which
Humanity comes to be dissolved into a
singular Titanic totality within which
all uniqueness personality and diversity
are melded together rather he sees a
future in which the great swath of
diversities created by the human Journey
coalesce so as to complete one another
for chardan the now emerging NOAA sphere
will be an achievement of synthesis and
integration not of homogenization and
standardization
our current situation within the
histories of the cosmos of life and of
human consciousness is of pivotal
significance for two reasons on the one
hand it is only very recently that human
consciousness has come to an awareness
of the nature of time itself not time as
a cyclical reiteration of the past nor
as a mere mechanical falling of causal
dominoes but rather as a spiral as a
progression which feels its way forward
into the realization of possibilities
which magnetize the processes which
comprise the world
this unfolding awareness of evolutionary
time is the succumbing to awareness of
the nature of Consciousness itself as
the self-consciousness of evolution
itself
at every moment each individual human
consciousness steers itself through a
space of possibilities towards certain
actualizations and this process itself
is a hyper accentuated and focused form
of the general process by which Cosmic
Evolution has brought us to our present
state
on the other hand we have the
planetization of human consciousness as
human technological and economic Powers
have spread out and coalesced with one
another as they have stretched out
across the globe so too have human
culture and social organization come to
merge so as to form a unified synthesis
as this Grand ecological and cognitive
synthesis continues to unfold in the
biosphere we will see the gradual
synthesis of all life within an
integrative Collective Consciousness
which is more than the sum of its parts
yet in no way exhaustive of the
diversities which come to be contained
within it yet Jordan tells us that this
coming to being of the NOAA sphere is
only the most imminent development of a
process which is by no means complete
and one which is not only planetary but
also Cosmic in scale
this is of course the Omega point the
ultimate unification of all reality
within a cosmic synthesis of
consciousness
although chardan is quite reserved in
his speculations about what might be in
store for the Deep future of life and
Humanity he nevertheless contends that
we can clearly see the overall curvature
of the grand Arc of cosmic history as
chardan sees it the cosmos as a whole is
ultimately destined towards becoming
encompassed within consciousness
this Omega point is of theological as
well as cosmological significance
chardan argues that this ultimate
encompassment within Cosmic
Consciousness will be not only a grand
harmonization but also a grand
Redemption and sublimation of all that
has occurred within the history of the
cosmos including human history the Omega
point will come to Encompass not only
the entire Cosmos within some distant
future state but will also come to
Encompass the past as well
as such the Omega point will result in
an ultimate synthesis not only of matter
but of all Consciousness which has
existed within the entire scope of
cosmic history each and every unique
personality which has come and gone
within the history of our world will
come to live within the indefinitely
complexifying consciousness of the Omega
point
and thereby all of that which has been
lost throughout the tumultuous and often
violent history of the world will come
to be renewed and redeemed the Omega
Point thus corresponds in Jordan's view
to the spirit of Christ within Christian
theology it is the love which animates
the cosmos and to which the cosmos is
ultimately aimed it is the ultimate
purpose of the cosmos its logos Telos
and idos through which all loss Agony
and suffering are ultimately sublimated
and thus redeemed
in Aristotelian terms we could say that
the Omega point is the final Telos of
cosmogenesis itself
before bringing this discussion to a
close I would like to raise some
objections and qualifications of
chardon's cosmology from my own
perspective
I see sure Dan's ideas as immensely
significant though there are certain
regards in which I see his conception of
the cosmos as incomplete
chardan's Cosmic teleology is one which
is as we have seen directed inexorably
towards a state of ultimate synthesis
and harmonization
but this framework seems to me to beg a
very important question if the cosmos is
drawn ultimately towards such a state of
synthesis why do diversity dissonance
multiplicity and Chaos even exist at all
modern astrophysical cosmology as well
as many theological forms of cosmology
seem to indicate that the cosmos began
from a state of ultimate unity the
universe is said to have sprung forth
from a unitary
Singularity a state of undifferentiated
Oneness or pure potentiality
why then did the cosmos not then simply
remain in such a state of singular
Harmony indefinitely why didn't Brahman
simply remain only Brahman why did the
Elohim feel the need to stir the face of
the deep rather than remaining in the
state of pure Oneness from which all
things came to be it seems to me that
there is something missing within
shardan's analysis he sees the cosmic
Telos as being synthesis within
Consciousness and he sees this synthesis
as a unification of Multiplicity rather
than a dissolution within homogeneity
but he does not account for how such
multiplicity might arise to begin with
chaos itself seems to be simply a given
for chardan and it seems to me that this
in itself is an oversight
if we conceptualize the ultimate aim of
the cosmos not as unity in itself but
rather as the harmonization of
difference
then we can see that the ultimate Cosmic
Telos actually consists of a polarity of
distinct aspects we have on the one hand
the impulse towards difference and the
perpetuation of difference
out of this archetypal impulse emerges
chaos separation and dissonance but also
uniqueness individuality diversity and
contrast
on the other hand we have the impulse
towards the synthesis or harmonization
of such differences the many become one
and are increased by one and thereby the
multiplicities generated by the Cosmos
come to be unified in Evermore Grand and
complex forms of unification
the cosmic Omega then is in my view a
polarity of consonants and dissonance
light as well as Darkness as the
ultimate aim of cosmic evolution is not
merely unification but rather it is the
drive towards intensity of beauty
experience
Consciousness and numinosity this drive
towards intensity itself implies and
necessitates contrast difference chaos
darkness and indeed pain anxiety and
destruction
chardan's cosmology also seems to imply
that the Omega point is in fact an
ultimate future state in which all
things come to coalesce within the unity
of Consciousness on a cosmic scale
this too seems to be at odds with what
is indicated by modern astrophysics
Although our current understanding of
the physical nature history and future
of the cosmos is far from complete what
contemporary astrophysics seems to
indicate is that on the largest of
temporal scales the universe is not in
fact destined towards an ultimate
coalescence but rather towards an
ultimate dissolution back into the
quantum void from which it emerged the
physical universe is expanding and this
rate of expansion is increasing further
the assumptions about the nature of
matter and energy which currently holds
sway within physics indicate that the
overall entropy of the universe is
destined to increase over the course of
cosmic time scales this is to say that
the amount of difference in energy
distribution within the cosmos will come
to decrease over the course of vast time
scales possibly leading to an ultimate
breakdown and dissolution of matter and
eventually of space-time itself these
facts would seem to contradict chardan's
overall cosmology in which Jordan
foresaw the universe as ultimately
destined towards a coalescence of all
things into his singular imminent form
of Consciousness it would seem that the
lure of chardan's Omega points May
indeed result in the evolution
involution and unfolding of
Consciousness in a localized manner such
as within the history of the earth and
Humanity but that this lure may be
unable to achieve the grand synthesis
which chardan envisioned to occur at a
cosmic scale
but I think that we can see a potential
resolution to these discrepancies if we
turn to the work of Alfred North
Whitehead another significant Pioneer
within the tradition of process
philosophy and a contemporary of chardan
although a truly rigorous comparison of
Whitehead with Jordan is far beyond the
scope of this video I think that briefly
contrasting shardaan's cosmology with
that of Whitehead will be very
illustrative of how the two thinkers
might complement one another within
Whitehead's process relational cosmology
we see a cosmos which is not necessarily
aimed towards a singular Grand
unification to be achieved at some point
in the distant future
rather we see a cosmos which due to its
most fundamental nature is continually
achieving a kind of ultimate synthesis
with each and every moment according to
Whitehead there is no need for the past
to be redeemed in some definite future
state of unity as every moment of
Consciousness comes to be incorporated
into a cosmic totality as it perishes
into the past
the past therefore is for Whitehead a
continually expanding totality of cosmic
Consciousness in which all things are
immortalized and thereby sublimated into
the whole of the cosmos
the cosmic Redemption which chardan
envisioned would therefore be something
which is being continually realized
rather than waiting to be fulfilled by
some distant future state of the
universe
as such we could say that even if the
universe as a whole is destined towards
a final dissolution due to the
inexorable procession of entropy and
Cosmic expansion the cosmos can
nonetheless be seen to be driven by an
all-encompassing Telos just as Chardon
describes the Omega is very much
operative in driving the grand process
of cosmogenesis but it is a kind of
transcendental love which is comprised
of both light and darkness and which
comes to be continually actualized
within the whole of cosmic Evolution and
thus within every moment of human
existence
however we might interpret the ideas
found within chardon's work it is
nevertheless abundantly clear to me that
his thought is uniquely significant he
was a thinker who was immensely
ambitious in his attempts to understand
the universe as he sought to account not
only for the actualities of the natural
world and natural history but also for
the meaning of human existence within
such a natural world his thought is
naturalistic yet also cosmological
metaphysical and Theological in thinking
with Jordan we Face ourselves against
truly ultimate questions pertaining to
the nature of Life Consciousness these
struggles of human existence and finally
the nature of reality itself
and that's going to be it for this week
thank you so much for watching as always
be sure to like And subscribe if you
haven't already of course I very much
appreciate everyone who has done so
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feasible so I hope you guys stick around
for that and with all that said once
again thanks for watching
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