Physiognomy

Physiognomy

Etymology : 1390, "art of judging characters from facial features," from L.L. physiognomia, from Gk. physiognomia "the judging of a person's nature by his features," from physio-, comb. form of physis "nature" (see physic) + gnomon (gen. gnomonos) "judge, indicator."

Physiognomy (Gk. physis, nature and gnomon, judge, interpreter) is a theory based upon the idea that the assessment of the person's outer appearance, primarily the face, may give insights into one's character or personality. The term physiognomy can also refer to the general appearance of a person, object or terrain, without reference to its implied or scientific characteristics.

This article will deal with physiognomy as a theory of character evaluation that may produce a set of correlations not always evidenced in the general population (i.e., it is not always accurate when applied to the broad population). Physiognomy is not a strict science, but rather a method of analysis that indicates a variety of correlations in its subjects. Hence, physiognomy is not used as the basis of biological or psychological theory. Physiognomic applications can be considered folk science or pseudoscience, and were once used with other tools of scientific racism, in order to promote discriminatory ideas.

The term was commonly written in Middle English as fisnamy or visnomy (as in the Tale of Beryn, a 15th Century sequel to the Canterbury Tales: "I knowe wele by thy fisnamy, thy kynd it were to stele"). Physiognomy's validity was once widely accepted, and it was taught in universities until the time of Henry VIII of England, who outlawed it (along with "Palmestrye") in 1531^[1]. Around this time, scholastic leaders settled on the more erudite Greek form 'physiognomy' and began to discourage the whole concept of 'fisnamy'.

The following types of physiognomy may be distinguished:

• absolute predictive physiognomy, a disproven concept which poses that there are invariable 100% correlations between physical features (especially facial features) and character traits.
• scientific correlation physiognomy, in which there are believed to be rough statistical correlations between physical features (especially facial features) and character traits due to a person's physical preferences that are caused by corresponding character traits, such that gene mixing causes the correlations; this type of physiognomy is therefore allegedly based on genetic determinism of character. Although this form of physiognomy has generally been disproven as well, the concept has been revived as personology, which is premised on the (widely deemed pseudoscientific) idea that different physical makeups correlate with different behaviors. For example, an illegal drug user often has a gaunt/desperate appearance, people who appear frail are unlikely to be demanding, and more generally, a life of smiling (or frowning) may leave a physical mark (especially on older people).

Contents [hide] 1 Ancient physiognomy 2 Modern physiognomy

 Ancient physiognomy

Notions of the relationship between an individual's outward appearance and inner character are historically ancient, and occasionally appear in early Greek poetry. The first indications of a developed physiognomic theory appear in fifth century Athens, where one Zopyrus was said to be expert in the art. By the fourth century, the philosopher Aristotle makes frequent reference to theory and literature concerning the relationship of appearance to character. Aristotle was apparently receptive to such an idea, as evidenced by a passage in his Prior Analytics (2.27). Ancient Greek mathematician, astronomer and scientist Pythagoras, believed by some to be the originator of physiognomics, once rejected a prospective follower named Cylon simply because of his appearance, which Pythagoras deemed indicative of bad character (source: Riedweg, Christop, Pythagoras:His Life,Teaching, and Influence).

It is possible to infer character from features, if it is granted that the body and the soul are changed together by the natural affections:

I say 'natural', for though perhaps by learning music a man has made some change in his soul, this is not one of those affections which are natural to us; rather I refer to passions and desires when I speak of natural emotions.

If then this were granted and also that for each change there is a corresponding sign, and we could state the affection and sign proper to each kind of animal, we shall be able to infer character from features. (Trans. A. J. Jenkinson

Koala eating eucalyptus - has it affected his physiognomy?

 

 

The Greek here is quite hard to express, but Aristotle seems to be referring to characteristics in the nature of each kind of animal thought to be present in their faces, that he suggests might be analysed for correspondences — for example, the koala's fondness for eucalyptus leaves.

 

The first systematic physiognomic treatise to survive to the present day is a slim volume, Physiognomica (English: Physiognomics), ascribed to Aristotle (but probably of his "school" rather than created by the philosopher himself).

 The volume is divided into two parts, conjectured to have been originally two separate works.

 The first section discusses arguments drawn from nature or other races, and concentrates on the concept of human behavior.

The second section focuses on animal behavior, dividing the animal kingdom into male and female types. From these are deduced correspondences between human form and character.

After Aristotle, the major extant works in physiognomy are:

• Polemo of Laodicea, de Physiognomonia (2c. A.D.), in Greek
• Adamantius the Sophist, Physiognomonica (4c. A.D.), in Greek
• An anonymous Latin author de Phsiognomonia (ca. 4c. A.D.)

 

 

 Modern physiognomy

Johann Kaspar Lavater

 

The principal promoter of physiognomy in modern times was the Swiss pastor Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741-1801) who was briefly a friend of Goethe.

 Lavater's essays on physiognomy were first published in German in 1772 and gained great popularity. These influential essays were translated into French and English.

The two principal sources from which Lavater found 'confirmation' of his ideas were the writings of the Italian Giambattista della Porta (1535-1615) and the English physician-philosopher Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682), whose Religio Medici discusses the possibility of the discernment of inner qualities from the outer appearance of the face, thus:

there is surely a Physiognomy, which those experienced and Master Mendicants observe....For there are mystically in our faces certain Characters which carry in them the motto of our Souls, wherein he that cannot read A.B.C. may read our natures. (R.M. part 2:2)

Late in his life Browne affirmed his physiognomical beliefs, writing in his Christian Morals (circa 1675):

Sir Thomas Browne

Since the Brow speaks often true, since Eyes and Noses have Tongues, and the countenance proclaims the heart and inclinations; let observation so far instruct thee in Physiognomical lines....we often observe that Men do most act those Creatures, whose constitution, parts, and complexion do most predominate in their mixtures. This is a corner-stone in Physiognomy...there are therefore Provincial Faces, National Lips and Noses, which testify not only the Natures of those Countries, but of those which have them elsewhere. (C.M. Part 2 section 9)

Sir Thomas Browne is also credited with the first usage of the word caricature in the English language, whence much of physiognomy movement's pseudo-learning attempted to entrench itself by illustrative means.

Browne possessed several of the writings of the Italian Giambattista della Porta including his Of Celestial Physiognomy which argued that it was not the stars but a person's temperament which influences facial appearance and character. In his book De humana physiognomia (1586), Porta used woodcuts of animals to illustrate human characteristics. His works are well represented in the Library of Sir Thomas Browne; both men sustained a belief in the doctrine of signatures — that is, the belief that the physical structures of nature such as a plant's roots, stem and flower, were indicative keys (or signatures) to their medicinal potentials.

The popularity of physiognomy grew throughout the eighteenth century and into the nineteenth century. It influenced the descriptive abilities of many European novelists, notably Balzac, and portrait artists, such as Joseph Ducreux; meanwhile, the 'Norwich connection' to physiognomy developed in the writings of Amelia Opie and travelling linguist George Borrow.

A host of other nineteenth century English authors were influenced by the idea, notably evident in the detailed physiognomic descriptions of characters in the novels of Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy and Charlotte Brontë.

 Physiognomy is a central, implicit assumption underlying the plot of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. In 19th century American literature, physiognomy figures prominently in the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe^[2]

 

Phrenology was also considered a form of physiognomy.

It was created around 1800 by German physician Franz Joseph Gall and Johann Spurzheim, and was widely popular in the 19th century in Europe and the United States.

Practitioners of the personality type theory socionics use physiognomy as a personality identification technique^[3][4].

The current interest in microｅxpressions in detecting terrorists by "behavior detection officers" at airports is a new manifestation of the pseudoscience of physiognomy.

 

 

얼굴모습이나 체형을 심리적 특성과 체계적으로 대응시키는 학문.

이같은 연관성을 규정하려는 시도는 대부분 신빙성을 얻지 못하였기 때문에 관상학은 때때로 점이나 손금보기 수준의 사이비 학문이나 사기행위로 여겨진다.

관상학을 연구하는 사람들은 관상학을 통해 외모만으로 성격을 판별하거나 몸매 혹은 얼굴생김에서 직관적 인지를 얻어내는 것이 가능하다고 주장한다.

관상학은 그 역사가 매우 길어 고대와 중세에도 이에 관해 많은 서적이 씌어졌다. 위로 치켜진 눈, 크고 넓적한 얼굴을 특징으로 하는 다운증후군처럼 유전적 결함이 신체적 특징으로 나타나는 경우도 있어 관상학은 생리학이나 생화학의 한 분야로 발전되었다.

또 외모에서 직관적 인지를 얻어낸다는 두번째 측면은 점성술을 비롯해 기타 다른 점술과 연결되었고 중세의 공상문학 속에서 크게 확대·과장되었다. 호메로스, 히포크라테스 등이 쓴 초기의 고전문헌에는 관상학이 고대 실용철학의 일부로 등장한다.

관상학에 관해 최초로 체계적인 논문을 쓴 사람은 아리스토텔레스라고 알려져 있다. 이 논문에서 그는 6 장(章)에 걸쳐 연구방법을 고찰하면서 주로 강인함과 나약함, 천재성과 우둔함 등의 기질을 나타내는 외모나 성격의 일반적 특성 등을 다루었다. 그 다음으로는 피부색, 머리카락, 체형, 손과 발, 걸음걸이, 목소리 등의 외모의 차이에서 비롯되는 성격의 특성을 고찰했다. 예를 들면, 코에 관해 논의하는 부분에서는 두툼한 주먹코를 가진 사람은 우둔하고 욕심이 많고, 코끝이 날카로운 사람은 마치 개와 같이 성미가 급해 쉽게 화를 내며, 둥글고 큰 뭉툭코를 가진 사람은 사자처럼 관대하고, 가늘고 휘어진 코를 가진 사람은 독수리 같은 성격을 지닌다고 말하고 있다.

유베날리스, 수에토니우스, 플리니우스 등 로마의 고전작가들은 관상학을 실제로 작품에 인용했으며, 알렉산드리아의 클레멘스와 오리게네스 같은 신학자들은 그들의 저서 속에 이를 암시하고 있다. 초기의 고전 관상학은 주로 서술적이었으나, 중세 후기에는 예언적이며 점성술적인 측면에서 연구가 전개되었다. 특히 이때 나온 논문들은 예언적 민간전승과 마술을 다루는 등 종종 주제에서 벗어났다.

예를 들어 연금술사였던 아르라지 아베로에스 같은 아라비아의 작가들은 의학과 관상학에 관한 문헌을 썼다. 또 중국에서는 전국시대부터 인상으로 운명을 점치는 관상술이 발달했는데 이는 음양설에 영향을 끼쳤으며 지금까지도 전통적인 중국과학과 관련이 있다.

관상학은 아비체나나, 알베르투스 마그누스, 존 둔스 스코투스, 토마스 아퀴나스 등의 학자들에 의해 광범위하게 다루어지기도 했다. 그러나 17세기에 들어 해부학이 더욱 발전함에 따라 관상학에 대한 과학적 관심은 줄어들기 시작했다. 18, 19세기에는 관상학이 범죄성향을 추정하는 수단으로 제안되기도 했으나, 실험 결과 잘못이 있는 것으로 나타나 실제로 사용되지는 않았다. 20세기에는 단지 과거의 학문 정도로 취급되고 있다.