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Phrenology
Phrenology (from the Ancient Greek φρήν, meaning 'mind', and λόγος, meaning 'knowledge') is a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits. It is based on the concept that the brain is the organ of the mind, and that certain brain areas have localized, specific functions or modules. Although both of those ideas have a basis in reality, phrenology extrapolated beyond empirical knowledge in a way that departed from science. The central phrenological notion that measuring the contour of the skull can predict personality traits is discredited by empir
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“
See, phrenology is this old Victorian science, which claimed you could determine the dominant traits of a man's personality by studying the bumps on his head. The size and position of these bumps indicated different personality traits. See? Now, /retro-phrenology/ says, why not change a man's personality by hitting him on the head with a hammer, till you raise just the right bumps in the right places!"
"One of us needs a lot more drinks," said Alex. "That's starting to make sense.
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― Something from the Nightside
― Something from the Nightside
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Fowler's philosophy [of phrenology] is all about the possibility and real hope of change. Calvinistic predestination and hellfire are swept away in an instant; if the brain and its resultant behavior is malleable throughout one's life, then nobody is fated to remain bad: they can mend their ways and their selves... Bad actions became the correctable result of improper development, rather than machinations of some cloven-footed prat with a fiery pitchfork. What Fowler holds out is nothung less th
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― The Trouble With Tom: The Strange Afterlife and Times of Thomas Paine
― The Trouble With Tom: The Strange Afterlife and Times of Thomas Paine




![Physiology, animal and mental: applied to the preservation and restoration of health of body and power of mind 1847 [Leather Bound]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1694903006l/86079562._SX318_.jpg)



































