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I'm wondering if there's a branch of philosophy (I'm guessing probably a subdivision of ethics)... which deals with long-term questions of what kind of goals the human species should overall be pursuing.

For example:

  1. Should we colonize space?
  2. Should we be trying to evolve humanity into something else (transhuman, posthuman etc)?
  3. Given that the lifespan of humanity... or the lifespan of all life in the universe is finite... how does this affect what we should be trying to achieve?
Ameet Sharma
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    [Futurology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futures_studies), but it is broader than a branch of philosophy only. – Conifold Feb 20 '21 at 04:43
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    Since this is more or less the broader ethical question how humanity should shape its future existence, I guess philosophical anthropology does in some sense answer these questions, as they inquire the human condition itself and often allow for or explicitly examine the implications for future technologies and "appropriateness" of life-worlds for human needs. Does this go into the direction you are looking for? – Philip Klöcking Feb 20 '21 at 09:57
  • @PhilipKlöcking, yes I guess that's it, but with a leaning towards the future. – Ameet Sharma Feb 20 '21 at 11:30

1 Answers1

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Since this is a form of applied ethics, I think is is hard to track down a separate branch, if not with more or less generic terms as futurology like suggested by Conifold. The authors in the field rarely refer to themselves as futurologists though, so terms like these bear limited utility. The topics are mostly handled within branches of applied ethics as various as philosophy of medicine, technology, culture, or the like.

Therefore, what you would have to do is to look for some typical topics - which involve a potential ethical problem, like human-machine communications, space colonisation, or genetic engineering. There, ethical implications are often discussed and some form of stance is taken since exploring them is the motivation for most works on these topics.

One source that directly comes to (my) mind is this book edited by Jules de Mul:

http://demul.nl/en/publications-3/select-publication-catagory/books/item/376-artificial-by-nature-plessners-philosophical-anthropology-perspectives-and-prospects

The perspectives are based on a particular philosophical conception of the human, though, so it can be confusing at times.

I guess your best bet if you want to find systematic exploration of what humanity as a whole should strive for is philosophical anthropology, since they inquire the human condition and often this involves some discussion of what is appropriate to it and what is not.

Philip Klöcking
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