In a website about physical anthropology an entry about a priest is the last thing you would think would be on it. But De Chardin was not your run of the mill type of priest. From 1912 to 1914 he worked in the paleontology laboratory of the “Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, in Paris, studying the mammals of the middle Tertiary period (perhaps inspired by his amateur naturalist father).” Although when he studied at another site in Europe he was part of the most controversial “finding” of paleoanthropology. What I mean by this is he was part of the team that discovered “Piltdown Man.” This “finding” was not a finding at all, it was a fraud (taking teeth of an orangutan and the cranium of a human) of which some suggest De Chardin was part of the hoax. Although, this whole affair is what got De Chardin interested in human paleontology.
A reading of Henri Bergson's “Creative Evolution” convinced him of the fact of evolution. “He lectured in Paris on the science of biological evolution, but his teachings were seen as a challenge to the Catholic theology, though he never meant them as such. He remained a devout Christian all his life, but he was effectively silenced by the Church, forbidden to lecture or publish on his theological and scientific perspectives, and exiled from his native France.” This turn of the events did not slow him down though. In 1929 he oversaw the excavations at the “Peking man” site (link to blog in which I spoke of Peking man: http://anthropologicalconcepts.weebly.com/blog/-homo-erectus-pekinensis). After his tour in China he took part with the American Expedition Center-Asia in the Gobi Desert organized by the American Museum of Natural History with the real life Indian Jones, Roy Chapman Andrews (a possible subject for a future fun fact Friday).
As a learned individual he published many books of which a few were centered around evolution. That said, his view of evolution was not the Darwinian “natural selection,” his mindset was that it was an “élan vital” or vital force that drove evolution. He also had the thought that we, as humans, have stopped physically evolving, but that our minds were the ones that still had some to go. "For the observers of the Future, the greatest event will be the sudden appearance of a collective humane conscience and a human work to make."
Who knew that a man of the cloth would take such an approach on something that is still controversial in the church. I mean, he is seen as a paleontologist. I hope you enjoyed this Friday's fun fact! If you have an itching to get to the bottom of a small fact that has been festering in your mind, or if you have a blog topic you would like me to cover, or if you would just like to express your thoughts on this first Fun Fact Friday, please feel free to comment below.
A reading of Henri Bergson's “Creative Evolution” convinced him of the fact of evolution. “He lectured in Paris on the science of biological evolution, but his teachings were seen as a challenge to the Catholic theology, though he never meant them as such. He remained a devout Christian all his life, but he was effectively silenced by the Church, forbidden to lecture or publish on his theological and scientific perspectives, and exiled from his native France.” This turn of the events did not slow him down though. In 1929 he oversaw the excavations at the “Peking man” site (link to blog in which I spoke of Peking man: http://anthropologicalconcepts.weebly.com/blog/-homo-erectus-pekinensis). After his tour in China he took part with the American Expedition Center-Asia in the Gobi Desert organized by the American Museum of Natural History with the real life Indian Jones, Roy Chapman Andrews (a possible subject for a future fun fact Friday).
As a learned individual he published many books of which a few were centered around evolution. That said, his view of evolution was not the Darwinian “natural selection,” his mindset was that it was an “élan vital” or vital force that drove evolution. He also had the thought that we, as humans, have stopped physically evolving, but that our minds were the ones that still had some to go. "For the observers of the Future, the greatest event will be the sudden appearance of a collective humane conscience and a human work to make."
Who knew that a man of the cloth would take such an approach on something that is still controversial in the church. I mean, he is seen as a paleontologist. I hope you enjoyed this Friday's fun fact! If you have an itching to get to the bottom of a small fact that has been festering in your mind, or if you have a blog topic you would like me to cover, or if you would just like to express your thoughts on this first Fun Fact Friday, please feel free to comment below.
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