The aim of this book is to vindicate the philosophical validity and the Catholic authenticity of Teilhard's scientific phenomenology. The resulting picture is that of a realist view of the universe which rejects the two opposing errors of Pelagian optimism and Manichean pessimism, and which lays to rest definitively the criticism that Teilhard neglected the elements of sin and human freedom. The author traces Teilhard's links with Thomistic philosophy, investigates his approach to the problem of evil and concludes with a sketch of a Teilhardian synthesis of science and religion.
Contents
Scientific Phenomenology, Its Nature and Meaning -- The Scientific Phenomenology of Consciousness -- The Scientific Phenomenology of Biological Evolution and Human History -- Scientific Phenomenology and Religion -- Scientific Phenomenology and Thomistic Philosophy -- Teilhardian Realism, the Problem of Evil, and Christian Hope -- The Resacralization of the Profane World