This document summarizes key points from Chapter Seven of Teilhard de Chardin's book "The Phenomenon of Man". It makes three main points: 1) Teilhard de Chardin sees man as the only significant link between the physical and spiritual orders, and as a being that knows he knows. He examines man solely as a phenomenon but covers the whole phenomenon. 2) Nothing exists in isolation, and science, philosophy and theology tend to converge in explaining the whole man. 3) Huxley asserts Teilhard's positions that mankind as a total phenomenon can be scientifically studied and analyzed, and that an evolutionary point of view is absolutely necessary. Huxley concludes the distillation of

1. T he Phenomenon of
Man
Chapter Seven

2. Phenomenon
Phenomenon, an observable fact or event; in philosophy
the definitions and uses of the term have varied. In the
philosophy of Aristotle phenomena were the objects of
the senses (e.g., sights and sounds), as opposed to
the real objects understood by the mind. Later,
phenomena were considered the observed facts and
were contrasted with the theories used to explain them.
Modern philosophers have used "phenomenon" to
designate what is apprehended before judgment is
applied. For Immanuel Kant a phenomenon was the
object of experience and was the opposite of a
noumenon, the thing-in-itself, to which Kant's
categories did not apply.

3.  Teilhard de Chardin, says, “Man is the
only significant link between the physical
order and the spiritual one.
 He is also a being who knows, he is also
a being who knows that he knows.
 He says the book is about man solely as
a phenomenon, but covers the whole
phenomenon of man.

4.  Here he reminds us of two things (1) that
nothing exists is pre isolation, and (2)
science, philosophy, and theology tend to
converge the nearer they try to explain the
whole man.
 To Huxley, Teilhard has effected a three-fold
sysnthesis namely:
1.Of the material and physical world, of the
world of mind and spirit;
2.Of the past with the future
3.Of variety with unity, of many, with the one.

5. •Huxley asserts Teilhard’s two position:
1.“… that mankind is its totality is a phenomenon to be
describe and analyzed like any other phenomenon,
and all its manifestations, including human history and
human values, are proper objects for scientific study.
2.His second, and perhaps most fundamental point is
the absolute necessity of adopting an evolutionary
point of view.
Huxley concludes:
We, mankind, contain the possibilities of the earth’s
immense future, and can realise more and more of them on
condition that we increase our knowledge and love. That, it
seems to me, is the distillation of the Phenomenon of Man.

6. The noumenon is a
posited object or event
that is known (if at all)
without the use of the
senses.

7. The noumenon is a
posited object or event
that is known (if at all)
without the use of the
senses.