LE PHÉNOMÈNE HUMAIN DE PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN, UN MÉMOIRE SCIENTIFIQUE?
THE PHENOMENON OF MAN BY PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN, A SCIENTIFIC STUDY?

Summary/Abstract: Jesuit and palaeontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin died suddenly on the 4th of April, 1955, leaving a large part of his work unpublished. Throughout the rest of the year, the press announced the imminent publication of The Phenomenon of Man, presented as the scientific side of his work. By fall, the book was published, accompanied by an impressive list of prestigious signatures. But over time, this tacit consensus loses its vigour and the question of the book’s scientific nature makes a strong comeback. The first interrogations arise in the early 1960s. These interrogations sometimes concern his scientific work, sometimes his philosophical–theological work, but almost never the man himself. To follow the reception of The Phenomenon of Man comes down to following the line drawn by Teilhardism. This ism is associated with Teilhard de Chardin’s thought, which takes its shape at the heart of the Glorious Thirty in France, before setting alight many other countries, and which seems to decline after crossing the threshold of 1965.

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