THE CADRE, TUES.{ FEB. 19, 1974 Page 3.

; Butleron Chrdin

The "Public Lecture Series" of the UPEI philosophy dept. commenced for 1974 on Monday, Feb. 4. Ken Butler, profes- sor, delivered the oration on the notion of history & progress in the evolutionary theory advanced by Pere Teilhard de Chardin.

Teilhard's theory is high— ly controversial in that it involves a metaphysical (or hyper - physical as Teilhard would like) extension of certain observations of the operation of nature. Many scientists, including phil— osophers of science, have, attacked this metaphysical involvement as theological interferences from Chardin's priestly career in the Rom- an Catholic Church.

_ Fundamentally, the theory runs like this: there are

in nature, two fundamental operations, convergence and divergence; convergence or the structural ordering in nature has resulted in com— plexity conciousness while divergence or disordering of structures constantly asserts itself in the face of Convergence resulting in death or finity for all that is structured. Man's role in this cosmic comedy

is to strive for convergen- ce and order in nature.

Tielhard also allows for emergence from convergence - diVergence struggles of to— tally new and possibly ad— vanced forms of compleXity- conciousness. This suggests the history of man as the history of emergence, yet this is not necessarily '_ linear thrust. At many poi- nts man runs counter to convergence through wars,

etc.. The exact idea is more of a possibility the- ory —— man has the poten— tiality to emerge into a higher form but must, thro- ugh choice and freedom, find the path to this emer- gence. V This somewhat simplified notion of Chardin's theory represents what I gleaned from the lecture. I must say that Prof. Butler (who, as Prof. Smitheram noted, 15 just inches away from ob— taining his Ph. D.) used a

great deal of biological jargon well suited for a biology lecture but hardly appropriate for an open audience concerned primari— ly with the philosophical. Perhaps Butler could have .passed out a guide to his lecture which could have included a series of defin— itions of the biological terminology to alleviate the communication gap. But even my wife, who majors

in biological studies, was overwhelmed by the rapid— ness with whidh Butler pro— ceeded. On leaving the aud— itorium (Duffy 206?, alais the freezer) she commented on the\breadth of the lec— ture, "he could have read just any one of his senten— ces and there would have been enough meat to spark

by ioel hansen

debate." As it was, too many sentences were read, resul- ting in a general confu— sion throughout the audien- ce.

I would ask those who have yet to deliver their lectu- res in this series to be more explanatory than Prof. Butler. Have pity on us poor ignorants who do not understand the jargon that philosophers use daily. Remember you are trying to communicate ideas. To communicate with people they must understand the language one is using.

_However, laying this com— plaint aside, I would say the message did manage to get across after a lively question period after the end of the lecture.

lneptitude atUPEI

Has anyone on this campus heard of the Ten Days for World Development campaign being instigated by the local Charlottetown High Schools? Well, if you haven't it is a campaign designed to increase the world con— ciousness of Islanders con- cerning the problems of un— derdevelopment on this pl— anet.

I was amazed last Tues. evening when on "Compass" (CBCT's evening information program), a student from Colnel Gray High delivered a speech on this subject of underdevelopment. His grasp of the situation was acute. He knew about the overseas investment game where a big country such as Canada invests in an under— developed country while strings are attached such as the gaining of monopolies for materials, etc. for Canada. This is our so cal- led solution to the world underdevelopment problem —- "How naive" noted the hig

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school student. "There must be a radical awakening in Canadians towards this problem of underdevelopment around the world and how we all contribute to it," he claimed.

I agreed with all the stu- dent said. However, this art- icle is not designed to fo— ist agreement or disagree- ment on this subject, it is to point out the ineptitude of our own campus involve— ment. Why wasn't there a ca— mpaign instigated by UPEI? Certainly world and Island underdevelopment are topics we must be concerned with! Are they not?

I would say that the high schoolers have shown us up as the apathetic bums we are.

Three cheers for the high schools of Charlottetown for championing a truly no— ble cause -— assorted "boos" (not booze) for the lazy & uninterested UPEI students who have again sought comf— ort instead of challenge. )not Jordan's challenge) Milwcfl . W. , ,.- :Q‘g

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