Teilhard de Chardin and Senghor on the civilization of the universal

INTRODUCTION

In our first chapter, we have considered the notion of the Civilization of the Universal as presented to us by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. The thought of this French Jesuit priest on humanism gave much dignity to peoples that were considered as inferior in a period marked by the growth of racism and ethnocentrism. In effect, the writings of Teilhard de Chardin were actually challenging the racist visions of the representative of western imperialism in Africa. Léopold SEDAR SENGHOR would then continue the work that was begun by the French Jesuit priest and he would apply the Teilhardian views on humanism, the Civilization of the Universal, adopting and adapting them to the African context. In this second chapter of our philosophical endeavour, we set ourselves the task of analysing the foundations of Senghor's humanism, his African socialism, the Negro-African vision of the world, his role and his contribution to the building up of the Civilization of the Universal.

II.1. THE FOUNDATIONS OF SENGHOR'S CIVILIZATION OF THE UNIVERSAL

Léopold Sédar Senghor drew inspiration from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Like Teilhard de Chardin, Senghor considered the interaction of cultures and human races. His readings of Teilhard de Chardin urged him to adopt and adapt some of his views on the Civilization of the Universal. In the midst of French and African culture, Senghor makes of Teilhard de Chardin's humanism, the basis of his thought on the Civilization of the Universal:

[...] Senghor [...] voulait lui-même concilier son désir douloureux de revendiquer son identité nègre et d'assumer la séduction que la civilisation française exerçait sur lui. La théorie de Teilhard de Chardin lui permettait de concilier ces contraires, de sortir d'une aventure ambiguë et de pouvoir à la fois se revendiquer de Diogoye Senghor, son père, le lion affamé, de Tokô Waly, son oncle maternel, le mystique, de Descartes, le rationaliste, de Péguy ou de Claudel. Teilhard l'avait déjà précédé dans cette voie...^43(*)

In effect, although Négritude remained the ideology with which Senghor is most associated and which he continued to uphold in organizing Pan-African conferences of artists and thinkers, after 1955 he focused on the Civilization of the Universal and the application in Africa of the philosophy of the French Jesuit palaeontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.

II.1.1. The Complementarity of Human Races

The foundations of Senghor's understanding of the Civilization of the Universal could be drawn from the assertion of Teilhard de Chardin that there are some human races that have reached a dead end, while others act as the spearhead of evolution. As we have seen with Teilhard de Chardin, mankind is evolving towards a form of totalisation, and this process necessarily entails a particular role for every human race. This is because human races are complementary and capable of coming together in synthesis. All human races and cultures are called to share an attitude of sympathetic collaboration in a unanimous effort towards the Civilization of the Universal. The complementarity of human races enabled Senghor to found his African humanism.

* ⁴³Richard Laurent Ombga, « Identité culturelle, Civilisation de l'Universel et Mondialisation. » in Marcelin Vounda E. (ed.), Le siècle de Senghor, Yaoundé, 2003, pp. 47-48.