ABSTRACT
At least two different interpretations of the concept of the noosphere have been given. Teilhard de Chardin uses the concept to refer to the ensemble composed of man and his various cultures. The 'marvellous sheet of humanised and socialised matter' includes Homo sapiens as its central constituent. It has come into being because man has produced culture and by producing it has transformed himself. Another way of interpreting the concept is due to ].S. Huxley, who limits its reference to the psychic dimension of culture. This dimension is affirmed to be man's distinctive environment, the milieu in which he characteristically lives. 'As fish swim in the sea and birds fly through the air, so we think and feel our way through this collective mental world . . . the noosphere or world of mind.' Here Homo sapiens is not a constituent part of the noosphere but an occupant of it. Both interpretations are defensible as models, although Teilhard de Chardin's may have certain advantages from a comprehensive point of view.
