View source for Philosophy:Noogenesis

{{short description|Emergence and evolution of intelligence}}
'''Noogenesis''' is the [[Philosophy:Emergence|emergence]] and evolution of [[Philosophy:Intelligence|intelligence]].

== Term origin ==
Noo-, [[Philosophy:Nous|nous]] ({{IPAc-en|UK|ˈ|n|aʊ|s}}, {{IPAc-en|US|ˈ|n|uː|s}}), from the [[Social:Ancient Greek|ancient Greek]] {{lang|en|νόος}}, is a term that currently encompasses the meanings "[[Philosophy:Mind|mind]], [[Philosophy:Intelligence|intelligence]], [[Philosophy:Intellect|intellect]], [[Philosophy:Reason|reason]]; [[Philosophy:Wisdom|wisdom]]; [[Insight|insight]], [[Intuition|intuition]], and [[Philosophy:Thought|thought]]."<ref>{{Citation |title=The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles |page=1417 |year=1973 |edition=3 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref>

In 1871, the medical doctor Hugh Doherty used the term "noogenesis" in his book ''Organic Philosophy'', using it to refer to "the growth of mind in the human race".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Doherty|first=Hugh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AlccAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA467|title=Organic Philosophy; Or, Man's True Place in Nature ...: Outlines of biology. Body, soul, mind, spirit|date=1871|publisher=Trübner & Company|language=en}}</ref>

Anthropologist and philosopher [[Biography:Pierre Teilhard de Chardin|Pierre Teilhard de Chardin]] mentioned "noogenesis" in his book ''[[Philosophy:The Phenomenon of Man|The Phenomenon of Man]]'', published in 1955. In Teilhard's stages of evolution, noogenesis, the emergence of [[Philosophy:Mind|mind]], follows [[Astronomy:Formation and evolution of the Solar System|geogenesis]] (beginning of Earth), biogenesis (beginning of life) and [[Biology:Human evolution|anthropogenesis]] (beginning of humanity), and is followed by Christogenesis, the genesis of the "total Christ", or the [[Religion:Pleroma|pleroma]].
{{quote|"With and within the crisis of reflection, the next term in the series manifests itself. Psychogenesis has led to man. Now it effaces itself, relieved or absorbed by another and a higher function—the engendering and subsequent development of the mind, in one word noogenesis. When for the first time in a living creature instinct perceived itself in its own mirror, the whole world took a pace forward."<ref>[[Biography:Pierre Teilhard de Chardin|Pierre Teilhard de Chardin]] The Phenomenon of Man. Harper Torchbooks, The Cloister Library, Harper & Row, Publishers, 1961, p. 181.</ref> "There is only one way in which our minds can integrate into a coherent picture of noogenesis these two essential properties of the autonomous centre of all centres, and that is to resume and complement our Principle of Emergence."<ref>[[Biography:Pierre Teilhard de Chardin|Pierre Teilhard de Chardin]] The Phenomenon of Man. Harper Torchbooks, The Cloister Library, Harper & Row, Publishers, 1961, p. 270.</ref> "The idea is that of noogenesis ascending irreversibly towards Omega through the strictly limited cycle of a geogenesis."<ref>[[Biography:Pierre Teilhard de Chardin|Pierre Teilhard de Chardin]] The Phenomenon of Man. Harper Torchbooks, The Cloister Library, Harper & Row, Publishers, 1961, p. 273.</ref> "To make room for thought in the world, I have needed to ' interiorise ' matter : to imagine an energetics of the mind; to conceive a noogenesis rising upstream against the flow of entropy; to provide evolution with a direction, a line of advance and critical points..."<ref>[[Biography:Pierre Teilhard de Chardin|Pierre Teilhard de Chardin]] The Phenomenon of Man. Harper Torchbooks, The Cloister Library, Harper & Row, Publishers, 1961, p. 290.</ref>}}

The lack of any kind of definition of the term has led to a variety of interpretations of the text.<ref>Steinhart E. Teilhard de Chardin and Transhumanism // Journal of Evolution and Technology — Vol. 20 Issue 1 -December 2008 — pgs 1-22 {{ISSN|1541-0099}} [http://jetpress.org/v20/steinhart.htm?pagewanted=all]</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Philosophy:Noosphere|Noosphere]]
*[[Philosophy:Omega Point|Omega Point]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Neuroscience}}
{{physiology types|state=expanded}}
{{Navboxes|list=
{{Biological organization}}
{{Human systems and organs}}
{{biology-footer}}
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Noogenesis}}
[[Category:Concepts in epistemology]]
[[Category:Concepts in metaphilosophy]]
[[Category:Concepts in metaphysics]]
[[Category:Concepts in the philosophy of mind]]
[[Category:Concepts in the philosophy of science]]
[[Category:Consciousness studies]]
[[Category:Emergence]]
[[Category:Epistemological theories]]
[[Category:Evolutionary biology]]
[[Category:Evolutionary psychology]]
[[Category:Intelligence]]
[[Category:Logic]]
[[Category:Mental content]]
[[Category:Mental processes]]
[[Category:Metaphysical theories]]
[[Category:Metaphysics of mind]]
[[Category:Metaphysics of science]]
[[Category:Philosophical anthropology]]
[[Category:Philosophical problems]]
[[Category:Rationalism]]
[[Category:Reasoning]]
[[Category:Sources of knowledge]]
[[Category:Theory of mind]]
[[Category:Thought]]

{{Sourceattribution|Noogenesis|1}}