How does Teilhard understand ‘complexity’ as underlying human evolution?

Today’s Post

Last week we took a closer look at how, through the ‘lens of evolution’, Teilhard’s ‘complexification’ can be seen to continue in the third of his three stages of universal evolution, at least on this planet (matter, life and thought).  Following Richard Dawkins’ recognition of human culture as the ‘vehicle’ of the transmission of ‘memes’ (“units of cultural imitation and replication”, AKA, ‘ideas’), human evolution can be expanded from the simple Darwinist “survival of the fittest” into a new and unique ‘re-instantiation’ of the cosmic principles which have guided ‘the stuff of the universe’ through its first fourteen billion years of evolution via ‘complexification’.

This week we will apply Teilhard’s seven facets of this ‘complexification’ to what we can see happening as the universe continues its evolution in the human species.

A Common Metric

In Richard Dawkins’ identification of a ‘causality’ for the third phase of evolution, ‘thought’, he addresses the question raised last week:

“What remains in charting the rise of ‘complexity’ through the evolution of the universe is to understand how such a thing as ‘human consciousness’ can be seen as a new ‘vehicle’ which can continue the fourteen billion rise of evolution into the future.   How can this ‘new vehicle’ be understood?”

   And in providing insight into evolution as it continues into this third phase of ‘thought’, Teilhard’s concept of ‘complexification’ as the common denominator in universal evolution is complete (at least thus far on this planet).

For those who know how to look, Teilhard’s seven characteristics of universal complexity can be seen as alive and well in the continuing drama of human evolution.

• An underlying characteristic of nearly every cultural and social mode of organization can be seen in the unleashing of fanciful creations. The ‘Natural Selection’ of biology, as Dawkins sees it, manifests itself in a new form as the human species continually explores new ways to not only maintain itself, but to increase its success in furthering itself.
• Both society and human activity, when fostered, burst forward in waves of spontaneity. Those branches of human organization which foster the ability of its constituents to exercise their potential for ‘spontaneity’ are always rewarded with increased potential for action.
• The expansion of the human species across the globe is unprecedented. And the unrest that accompanies the waves of human expansion as they collide are offset by the emergence of new insights on coexistence.
• Human social experiments are exceedingly improbable. These new insights are not always obvious, and do not occur spontaneously.  The idea of democracy, for example, required a long history which culminated in placing a risky trust in government in the hands of collective wisdom.
• Humans find ever new and innovative ways to organize, tap into, and assure the continuation of their collective wisdom. The social norms and civic mandates (laws) that emerge over time are constantly evolving.
• Governments, at least in the West, have developed more supple and better centered organization and use of their resources. Those governments that put a priority on in the importance of the human person (as seen in the fostering of their spontaneity) and on the necessity for ensuring their relationships have evolved cultural norms which have led to a measurable global increase in human welfare.  We will later address the many ways that this increase can be seen, as well as its dependence on the values of human personal freedom and insurance of human relationships.
• Historically, each new cycle has been accompanied by an onset of a new type of conscious activity and determination. In the rise and fall of great societies in the spiral of humanity as it evolves, a continuation of insights can be traced.

We will see later how the wheat of human evolution can be distinguished among the many elements of chaff when we later address specific objectively-derived examples of these seven characteristics.

Next Week

This week we not only saw how Teilhard’s seven characteristics of complexity are active in human evolution, but how the human person and his culture serve as the ‘vehicle’ for Dawkins’ ‘meme’ as it replaces the cell as the essential building block of evolution

Next week we will look a little more closely at how this phenomenon of ‘complexification’ can be seen as the essential activity active in the universe as it unfolds into the state that can be seen today.