The grand, sweeping picture of the evolutionary process envisioned by the
Jesuit paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and his belief in the emergence
of an ‘ultra-humanity’, that both summarizes as well as transcends
the limitations of the strictly biological realm, has profound implications
for humanity’s relationship to its environment.
This article will proceed by means of two major stages. First, there will
be a review of the advancement of cosmological and planetary science as it
contextually impacts Teilhard’s views regarding the future of human evolution.
This will be followed by, second, an extrapolation, from Teilhard’s
analysis of the developmental choices that face the human race in its social,
political, and economic development, what these choices might mean for
our environmental responsibilities and humanity’s hopes for its future.