Physiognomy, Phrenology and the Temporality of the Body

Body and Society 8 (1):67-88 (2002)
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Abstract

In the sociology of the body, the analysis of physiognomy is a neglected topic. The idea that one can judge the character of another from their facial or bodily characteristics is a pervasive phenomenon. However, its historical and cultural spread does not entail that we inevitably tie it to notions of human essence. This study focuses upon a particular periodic resurgence of physiognomic discourse in the West, at the end of the 18th and the entirety of the 19th century. In contrast to previous arguments, I argue that physiognomic discourse was able to exploit 19th-century phrenology as a conduit for its own perpetuation. I point out that the perception of the other that physiognomy promotes is largely based upon an atemporal view of the body. I suggest that this physiognomic perception remains an entrenched but changeable component in contemporary relations between self and other.

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References found in this work

The Mismeasure of Man.Stephen Jay Gould - 1980 - W.W. Norton and Company.
The Mismeasure of Man.Stephen Jay Gould - 1984 - Journal of the History of Biology 17 (1):141-145.
The Mismeasure of Man.Stephen Jay Gould - 1983 - Ethics 94 (1):153-155.
Fragments for a History of the Human Body.Michel Feher, Ramona Naddaff & Nadia Tazi - 1991 - Philosophy East and West 41 (2):276-278.

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