Science and the dilemma of death explored in groundbreaking new exhibition

UCL Culture is launching its latest groundbreaking exhibition What does it mean to be human? Curating Heads this week in the Octagon Gallery, Wilkins Building, UCL. Bringing together UCL scientific expertise with poignant philosophical and ethical debate, the exhibition will provide visitors with a unique insight into the meaning of human existence and the role of the body after death. Central to the exhibition will be the head of philosopher Jeremy Bentham who died in 1832 leaving his body to be transformed into what he called an auto-icon or self image, a controversial move at the time. Bentham was a leading philosopher and social thinker of the 18th and early 19th century, establishing himself as a leading theorist in social and economic reform. His 'greatest happiness principle' established the idea that the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people was the measure of right and wrong. This is the first time in decades that the head has been placed on public display; "The exhibition positions Bentham's head within the context of his scholarship and his beliefs, with reference to prevailing ideas of the time about death and dead bodies. It asks the question, why did he believe donation was important? And forces us to ask what that means to us today." said Subhadra Das, Curator of Collections (UCL Culture).