The Marcel‐Teilhard Debate

Abstract

More than fifty years ago, on January 21, 1947, a debate took place in Paris between Gabriel Marcel and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin on the following question: “To what degree does the material organization of humanity lead man to the point of spiritual maturation?” As Teilhard’s biographer Cuenot observes, “it was a fine subject for two great, but very different, minds to discuss.”’ In essence, the debate concerned the value of technology in human culture, and the character of the social organization attendant upon technical civilization. Do the astounding technological advances of the last century represent a true enhancement of human existence in all its dimensions, as Teilhard believes, or is Marcel right in suggesting that technological progress is of dubious value in relation to the authentic purpose of life? Clearly, this debate has not lost its relevance. In a time when technological mastery of human life itself, through the mapping of the genome, is a reality, and when the Internet has ushered in a global connectedness which has transformed the planet’s “noosphere,” there is reason to reflect on the spiritual value of these attainments.