"Where to, humanity?"

1. Where to, Humanity? Mill, Darwin, and Nietzsche Passion for Wisdom 104- What Mill adds to Bentham 's rather crude quantitative theory (“the greatest happiness of the greatest number,” hedonic calculus, etc.) is the question of the quality of pleasure, thus emphasizing the importance of poetry and philosophy... Neither of them went quietly. Bentham insisted on hanging around, in fact. And Mill's obit, criticizing his liberalism, feminism, and philosophy, provoked furious controversy ...

2. John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) On Liberty puts forward the “harm principle” that “the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.” In The Subjection of Women , he compares the legal status of women to the status of slaves and argues for equality in marriage and under the law... IEP

3. Charles Darwin (1809-1882) – Are we still evolving? About Darwin... as philosopher ... *All organisms produce more offspring than can possibly survive. *There is significant variation amongst off-spring; they are not all carbon-copies of one immutable type. *At least some of the variation found in the offspring gets passed on to the next generation and to generations beyond. Darwin combined these ideas and observations to put forward a startling hypothesis: if many offspring die out, and if there is significant variation amongst offspring, then those offspring most advantageously suited to their changing local environment will tend to survive. pbs bbc

4. Matthew Chapman , the great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin, spent several months covering the ( Dover PA ) trial from beginning to end... in-depth encounters with the participants — creationists, preachers, teachers, scientists... He's still astonished that anyone doubts his great-great grandpa's theory... b ut says he like creationists and respects (but doesn't possess) religious feeling.

5. In Thus Spoke Zarathustra , Nietzsche offered up the incredible suggestion that human beings were nothing but a bridge between the ape and the Ubermensch … The last man is the ultimate bourgeois, the satisfied utilitarian, the absolute couch potato. "We have found happiness," says the last man, and he blinks in dull contentment .