INTERPRETING EVOLUTION: DARWIN, NIETZSCHE, & TEILHARD DE CHARDIN

Abstract

Different explanations have been given to account for the origin and history of life forms on this planet. Concerning the factual theory of organic evolution, interpretations range in an arc from materialism, through vitalism and spiritualism, to mysticism. The scientist Charles Darwin, the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, and the theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin gave an account of life on earth in terms of biological evolution. Darwin and Nietzsche did not find it necessary to include religious beliefs or theological dogmas in their naturalist view of our own species within the evolutionary framework. Darwin deliberately ignored God in his scientific writings, while Nietzsche boldly claimed that "God is dead " in his philosophical worldview. Yet, in sharp contrast, the theist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin argued that a personal God is involved in an evolutionary view of this dynamic universe, the history of life on earth, and both the emergence and completion of humankind. As evolutionists, all three thinkers have paved the way for the conceptualization of transhumans and posthumans in modern scientific and philosophical thought

Keywords

• Transhumans,Worldview Evolution,God,Metaphysics,Posthumans,Science

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