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- Title
Physiognomonie de l'Autre: des caricatures de la nature à la ségrégation sociale.
- Authors
GUÉDRON, MARTIAL
- Abstract
At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, physiognomy had an astonishing impact on the new sciences such as anthropology, psychiatry and criminology despite being disparaged by many scientists and philosophers. One of the principal manifestations of the influence of physiognomy was that facial descriptions foregrounded the way races, mental affections, deviant behaviours and criminals were classified. Because of its inherent interaction between image and discourse, physiognomy allowed for a fusion, or rather confusion, between scientific and aesthetic judgment. Since the classical Greek profile was considered the ideal, discrimination frequently hinged on equating moral and mental qualities with physical attributes. Aesthetic prejudice impinged so strongly on scientific views that certain human types came to be perceived as caricatures, i.e., as counter-models to ideal beauty. The intrusion of aesthetic prejudices into scientific pursuits became common, percolating into the theories and speculations on racial plurality. This blurring of boundaries significantly affected some theories on racial hierarchy and even entered the discourse on social classes. The present essay takes a Foucauldian approach as a starting point but aims to widen the scope of the French philosopher's view that a metaphorical discourse on racial discrimination gradually shifted from race to class struggle.
- Subjects
PHYSIOGNOMY; CARICATURE; RACIAL classification; PHRENOLOGY; PEOPLE with mental illness in art; ESQUIROL, Etienne, 1772-1840; RACE discrimination; FRENCH philosophy
- Publication
Études Françaises, 2013, Vol 49, Issue 3, p15
- ISSN
0014-2085
- Publication type
Article