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Physiognomy (Gk. physis, nature and gnosis, knowledge) is traditionally a folk science, based upon the idea that the study and judgement of a person's outer appearance, primarily the face, reflects their character or personality. The shortened form "fizzog" is also a slang word for "face". The term physiognomy is also used to refer to the general appearance of a person, object, or terrain, without reference to its underlying or scientific characteristics. This article will deal with the folk science. Image File history File links Unbalanced_scales. ... Greek (, IPA - Hellenic) is an Indo-European language with a documented history of 3,500 years, the longest in the Indo-European family if the Anatolian languages are excluded. ... Folk science describes ways of understanding and predicting the natural and social world, without the use of rigorous methodologies (see Scientific method). ... The face of Leonardo da Vincis Mona Lisa, one of the most recognized faces in the world A human face The face is the front part of the head, in humans from forehead to chin including the head, hair, forehead, eyebrow, eyes, nose, cheek, mouth, lips, teeth, skin, and...

Typical illustration to be found in a 19th century book on Physiognomy (to the left "Utter despair" and on the right "Rage mixed with fear")

The word was commonly used 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"). Its validity was once widely accepted, and it was taught in universities until the time of English King Henry VIII^{[citation needed]}, when scholastic leaders settled on the more erudite Greek form 'physiognomy' and began to discourage the whole concept of 'fisnamy'. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2619x1893, 1010 KB) Summary Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Physiognomy ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2619x1893, 1010 KB) Summary Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Physiognomy ... Canterbury Tales Woodcut 1484 The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in prose, the rest in verse). ... Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England and Lord of Ireland (later King of Ireland) from 22 April 1509 until his death. ...

There are said to be two types of physiognomy:

• absolute predictive physiognomy, in which there are believed to be invariable 100% correlations between physical features (especially facial features) and character traits; this has been disproven
• 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 type of physiognomy has generally been disproven as well, the idea has been revived as personology. The main explanation of personology, also a pseudoscience, is cultural/subcultural association with specific values and habits. For example, most Communist leaders in the world have narrow eyes. This is because the physical trait of narrow eyes just happens to occupy much the same geographical range as does the cultural world-view of Communism (East Asia), not because narrow eyes cause communist ideologies. See also: Post hoc, Non sequitur.

This stylistic schematic diagram shows a gene in relation to the double helix structure of DNA and to a chromosome (right). ... Genetic determinism is the idea that an individuals genes determine to a large degree all aspects of their behaviour. ... Personology, is bullshit a recent New Age variant of the ancient pseudoscience of Physiognomy, which is closely related to the disproved study of Phrenology. ... Post hoc ergo propter hoc is Latin for after this, therefore because of this. ... Non sequitur is Latin for it does not follow. ...

Ancient physiognomy

Notions of the relationship between an individual's outward appearance and inner character are as old as time, and are occasionally reflected in early Greek poetry. The first indications of a developed 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 theories of the sort, and also to some sort of literature. Aristotle's own thought was receptive, as can be seen from a passage in his Prior Analytics (2.27). Europe in 450 The 5th century is the period from 401 - 500 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... Athens (Greek: Αθήνα, Athína IPA: ) is the capital of Greece and one of the most famous cities in the world, named after goddess Athena. ... As a means of recording the passage of time, the 4th century was that century which lasted from 301 to 400. ... Media:Example. ...

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 is suggesting might be analysed for correspondences — for example the noticeable fondness of the Koala for eucalyptus leaves. Download high resolution version (1000x682, 140 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1000x682, 140 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Binomial name Phascolarctos cinereus (Goldfuss, 1817) The Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is a thickset arboreal marsupial herbivore native to Australia, and the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae. ... Species About 700; see the List of Eucalyptus species Wikispecies has information related to: Eucalyptus hello gemma ere wuu2????Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of trees (rarely shrubs), the members of which dominate the tree flora of Australia. ...

The first systematic treatise on physiognomy to survive to the present day is a slim volume Physiognomica (English: Physiognomics), ascribed to Aristotle, but probably of his "school" rather than by the philosopher himself. It is divided into two parts, conjectured to have been originally two separate works. The first section passes over arguments drawn from nature or other races, and concentrates on 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 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.)

(3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - other centuries) (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium AD) // Events 175 BCE - Antiochus IV Epiphanes, took possession of the Syrian throne, at the murder of his brother Seleucus IV Philopator, which rightly belonged to his nephew Demetrius I Soter. ... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 4th century BC started on January 1, 400 BC and ended on December 31, 301 BC. // Overview Events Bust of Alexander the Great in the British Museum. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ...

Modern physiognomy

Johann Kaspar Lavater

The principal promoter of physiognomy in modern times was the Swiss pastor Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741-1801) who, for a short while, was a friend of Goethe. Lavater's essays upon physiognomy were first published in German in 1772 and gained great popularity. His essays upon physiognomy were translated into French and English and were highly influential. 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 and philosopher Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682), whose Religio Medici Lavater read and praised. Browne discusses in this work the possibility of the discernment of inner qualities from the outer appearance of the face thus: Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Johann Kaspar Lavater (November 15, 1741 - January 2, 1801), was a poet and physiognomist. ... // Events April 10 - Austrian army attack troops of Frederick the Great at Mollwitz August 10 - Raja of Travancore defeats Dutch East India Company naval expedition at Battle of Colachel December 19 - Vitus Bering dies in his expedition east of Siberia December 25 - Anders Celsius develops his own thermometer scale Celsius... The Union Jack, flag of the newly formed United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. ... Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. ... Catherine IIs soldiers in the Russo-Turkish War, by Alexandre Benois. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Image:Giovanni della Porta. ... Events January 18 - Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro April - Jacques Cartier discovers the Iroquois city of Stadacona, Canada (now Quebec) and in May, the even greater Huron city of Hochelaga June 24 - The Anabaptist state of Münster (see Münster Rebellion) is conquered and disbanded. ... Events June 2 - First Récollet missionaries arrive at Quebec City, from Rouen, France. ... Sir Thomas Browne (October 19, 1605 - October 19, 1682) was an English author of varied works that disclose his wide learning in diverse fields including medicine, religion, science and the esoteric. ... // Events April 13 - Tsar Boris Godunow dies - Feodor II accedes to the throne May 16 - Paul V becomes Pope June 1 - Russian troops in Moscow imprison Feodor II and his mother. ... Events March 11 – Chelsea hospital for soldiers is founded in England May 6 - Louis XIV of France moves his court to Versailles. ... Sir Thomas Brownes Religio Medici (The Religion of a Doctor) was in its day a European best-seller which brought its author fame and respect throughout the continent. ...

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 stating in his Christian Morals (circa 1675): Christian Morals is a work in prose by the physician and religious apologist Sir Thomas Browne, published posthumously in 1716. ... Events January 5 - The Battle of Turckeim June 18 - Battle of Fehrbellin August 10 - King Charles II of England places the foundation stone of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London - construction begins November 11 - Guru Gobind Singh becomes the Tenth Guru of the Sikhs. ...

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's pseudo-learning attempted to base itself by illustrative means. Sir Thomas Browne, engraving from an eighteenth century frontispiece This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the United States and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years or more. ... Sir Thomas Browne, engraving from an eighteenth century frontispiece This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the United States and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years or more. ... A caricature of director Quentin Tarantino, using pieces of overlapped construction paper and color pencil, by Luigi Novi. ...

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 the temperament which influences both man's facial appearance and character. In his book De humana physiognomia (1586) Porta used woodcuts of animals to illustrate human characteristics. Porta's works are well-represented in the Library of Sir Thomas Browne and both 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 medical potential. Image:Giovanni della Porta. ... 1586 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. ... No single document gives better evidence of the erudition of Sir Thomas Browne, physician, philosopher and encyclopedist than the 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue of the Library of Sir Thomas Browne. ...

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 the traveller and linguist George Borrow, besides a host of other nineteenth century English authors, notably the highly descriptive passages of characters and their physiognomical appearance in the novels of Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, and Charlotte Brontë. In 19th century American Literature, physiognomy figures prominently in the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe^[1] (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... World map showing Europe Political map Europe is one of the seven continents of Earth which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiographic one, leading to various perspectives about Europes borders. ... Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac (May 20, 1799 - August 18, 1850), was a French novelist. ... Self-portrait, ca. ... Amelia Opie (November 12, 1769 - December 2, 1853), English author, daughter of James Alderson, a physician in Norwich, and was born there. ... George Borrow George Henry Borrow (1803-1881) was an English author who wrote novels and travelogues based on his own experiences around Europe. ... Dickens redirects here. ... Thomas Hardy, OM (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was a novelist, short story writer, and poet of the naturalist movement, who delineated characters struggling against their passions and circumstances. ... Charlotte Brontë by George Richmond, 1850 Charlotte Brontë (April 21, 1816 – March 31, 1855) was an English novelist, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters whose novels have become enduring classics of English literature. ... Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American poet, short story writer, editor, critic and one of the leaders of the American Romantic Movement. ...

Phrenology was also considered a 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. A 19th century Phrenology chart Phrenology (from Greek: φρήν, phrēn, mind; and λόγος, logos, logic) is a theory which claims to be able to determine character, personality traits, and criminality on the basis of the shape of the head (reading bumps). Developed by German physician Franz Joseph Gall around 1800, and... 1800 (MDCCC) was an common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Franz Joseph Gall (March 9, 1758 - August 22, 1828) was a German neuroanatomist and physiologist who was a pioneer in the study of the localization of mental functions in the brain. ... Johann Gaspar Spurzheim (1776-1832) was a German physician who became one of the chief proponents of phrenology, a branch of the neurosciences created approximately in 1800 by Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828). ... World map showing Europe Political map Europe is one of the seven continents of Earth which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiographic one, leading to various perspectives about Europes borders. ...

Facial and body type categorization continues in modern popular psychology. For example, the personality type theory Socionics uses physiognomy quite prominently in its personality type descriptions, and pseudoscientific subjects such as NLP Neurolinguistic Programming make common reference to body types, and eye movements, in combination with language styles in order to categorize individual's mental strategy or way of thinking. Socionics is a branch of psychology that is based on Carl Jungs work on Psychological Types, Freuds theory of the conscious and subconscious, and Antoni Kępińskis theory of information metabolism. ... NLP may refer to: Natural language processing, an area of computational linguistics Neuro-linguistic programming, a set of models and principles to describe the relationship between mind and language The principles of neuro-linguistic programming are disputed by some critics, and upheld by others No light perception, a type of... Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is a field of human endeavor concerned with empirically studying and modeling human performance and excellence, with the goal of creating transferable skill sets. ...

References

1. ^ Grayson, Erik. "Weird Science, Weirder Unity: Phrenology and Physiognomy in Edgar Allan Poe" Mode 1 (2005): 56-77. Also online.

Contemporary physiognomy

In the 20th and 21st centuries, correlations have been established between IQ and cranial volume. Testosterone levels, which are known to correlate with aggressiveness, are also strongly correlated with features such as finger-length ratios and square jaws. (references needed) IQ redirects here; for other uses of that term, see IQ (disambiguation). ... Testosterone is a steroid hormone from the androgen group. ... Aggression is defined as The act of initiating hostilities or invasion. ...

Related 'disciplines'

• Phrenology
• Pathognomy
• Characterology
• Personology

A 19th century Phrenology chart Phrenology (from Greek: φρήν, phrēn, mind; and λόγος, logos, logic) is a theory which claims to be able to determine character, personality traits, and criminality on the basis of the shape of the head (reading bumps). Developed by German physician Franz Joseph Gall around 1800, and... Pathognomy is the study of passions and emotions. ... Characterology is a method of character reading developed in the 1920s that attempted to combine revised Physiognomy, reconstructed Phrenology, and amplified Pathognomy with ethnology, sociology, and anthropology. ... Personology, is bullshit a recent New Age variant of the ancient pseudoscience of Physiognomy, which is closely related to the disproved study of Phrenology. ...

External links

• "Ugly Criminals", H. Naci Mocan and Erdal Tekin, December 2005