Philosophy:Characterology
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Characterology (from Greek χαρακτήρ "character" and -λογία, -logia) is a pseudoscience that proposes a method of character reading, dating from the 1920s, that attempted to read a person's character and intelligence by their appearance, expression and build. Now considered part of scientific racism.[1][2] It claimed to combine physiognomy, reconstructed phrenology[3][2] and amplified pathognomy, with ethnology, sociology and anthropology. It was developed by L. Hamilton McCormick in the 1920s. Characterology claimed to produce a scientific[1] system to assess intelligence and character.[4][5] No studies were published to support this claim. Modern scholars propose a link with his racial theories and the rise of the Third Reich in Germany.[6][7]
Characterology claimed to resolve flaws in the phrenological systems of Franz Joseph Gall and Johann Spurzheim.[3] McCormick claimed that his ideas improved upon them.[6][7]
McCormick suggested the following uses for characterology: advice for parents and educators, guidance in military promotions, evaluating thinking patterns,[8]assessing business associates, career counseling, and even selecting whom to marry.[9]
His writing reflected the assumption that white (anglo, Caucasian ) features were favored and preferred.[1][7] These racist ideas were widely accepted by scholars and investigators at the time. For example, Stephen Jay Gould, in his book, The Mismeasure of Man tells the story of how a well intentioned, but racially biased, scientist mis-measured skulls of different ethnic groups. The results appeared to show greater brain capacity of what was considered, at that time, white or Caucasian features. Gould re-did the original experiment and found no difference.[10]
In her article Characterology: Hapsburg Empire to Third Reich, Ahrens states that[6][5]
A popular science around the turn of the century, characterology, is used to exemplify the debate between adherents of biological inheritance and those of environmental adaptation in the early modern period. The paradigm which this position points to is then elucidated with reference to other visible scientific debates of the period between the demise of the Hapsburg Empire and the emergence of Nazi psychotherapy.
See also
- Phrenology
- Physiognomy
- Pathognomy
- Personology (disambiguation)
- Scientific racism
- The Mismeasure of Man
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Galat, Joshua R. (2019). "Modernism, Mental Hygiene, and the Embodiment of Mental Disability". Journal of Modern Literature 42 (2): 113–131. doi:10.2979/jmodelite.42.2.07. ISSN 0022-281X.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Parker Jones, O.; Alfaro-Almagro, F.; Jbabdi, S. (September 2018). "An empirical, 21st century evaluation of phrenology" (in en). Cortex 106: 26–35. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2018.04.011. PMID 29864593.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lack, Caleb W (2002). Critical thinking, science, and pseudoscience : why we can't trust our brains. Rousseau, Jacques (Jacques André), 1971-. New York, NY. ISBN 9780826194268. OCLC 944248829.
- ↑ Hutton, Christopher. (1999). Linguistics and the Third Reich : mother-tongue fascism, race, and the science of language. London: Routledge. ISBN 0203159268. OCLC 48139402.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Arens, Katherine (1986). "Schnitzler and Characterology: From Empire to Third Reich". Modern Austrian Literature 19 (3/4): 97–127. ISSN 0026-7503.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Arens, Katherine (1989). "Characterology: Hapsburg Empire to Third Reich". Literature and Medicine 8 (1): 128–155. doi:10.1353/lm.2011.0037. ISSN 1080-6571. PMID 2682033.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Hutton, Christopher. (1999). Linguistics and the Third Reich : mother-tongue fascism, race, and the science of language. London: Routledge. ISBN 0203159268. OCLC 48139402.
- ↑ "Fascism and Mythical Modernity", Fascism, Aviation and Mythical Modernity, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, doi:10.1057/9781137362995.0016, ISBN 9781137362995 page 54
- ↑ Fodor, Jerry A. (1983). The modularity of mind : an essay on faculty psychology. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. ISBN 0262060841. OCLC 9133505.
- ↑ Lewis, Jason E.; Degusta, David; Meyer, Marc R.; Monge, Janet M.; Mann, Alan E.; Holloway, Ralph L. (June 2011). "The mismeasure of science: Stephen Jay Gould versus Samuel George Morton on skulls and bias". PLOS Biology 9 (6): e1001071. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001071. ISSN 1545-7885. PMID 21666803.
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