Universal evolution
Universal evolution is a theory of evolution formulated by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Julian Huxley that describes the gradual development of the Universe from subatomic particles to human society, considered by Teilhard as the last stage.
Vernadsky's and Teilhard's theories
Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky influenced Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and the two formulated very similar theories describing the gradual development of the universe from subatomic particles to human society and beyond. Teilhard's theories are better known in the West, and integrate Darwinian evolution and Christianity, whilst Vernadsky wrote more purely from a scientific perspective.Three classic levels are described. Cosmogenesis or the formation of inanimate matter, culminating in the Lithosphere, Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, etc., or collectively, the Geosphere. Here progress is ruled by structure and mechanical laws, and matter is primarily of the nature of non-consciousness.
This is followed by Biogenesis and the origin of life or the Biosphere, where there is a greater degree of complexity and consciousness, ecology comes into play, and progress and development is the result of Darwinian mechanisms of evolution.
Finally there is human evolution and the rise of thought or cognition, and a further leap in complexity and the interior life or consciousness, resulting in the birth of the Noosphere. Just as the biosphere transformed the geosphere, so the noosphere transformed the biosphere. Here the evolution of human society is ruled by psychological, economic, informational and communicative processes.
For Teilhard there is a further stage, one of spiritual evolution, the Christing of the collective noosphere, in which humanity converges in a single divinisation he calls the Omega Point.