Part 2

Now here is the sum and the substance of Gall’s psycology. For the understanding, essentially a unit faculty, he substitutes a multitude of little understandings or faculties, distinct and isolate. And, as these faculties, which perform just as he wills them to do—which he multiplies according to his pleasure,[32] seem in his eyes to explain certain phenomena which are not well explained by the lights of ordinary philosophy, he triumphs!

He does not perceive that an explanation, which is words merely, adapts itself to any and to every thing. In the time of Malebranche, every thing was explained by _animal spirits_; Barthez explained every thing by his _vital principle_, &c.

“This,” says Gall, “explains how the same man may possess a judgment that is ready and sure as to certain objects, while it is imbecile as to certain others; how he may have the liveliest and most fruitful imagination upon some subjects, while it is cold and sterile upon others.”[33]

“Grant,” says he, further, “to the animals certain fundamental faculties, and you have the dog that follows the chase with _passion_; the weasel that strangles the poultry with _rage_; the nightingale that sings with _fervour_ beside his mate,”[34] &c.

No doubt of it. But what sort of philosophy is that, that thinks to explain a fact by a word? You observe such or such a penchant in an animal, such or such a taste or talent in a man; _presto_, a particular faculty is produced for each one of these peculiarities, and you suppose the whole matter to be settled. You deceive yourself; your _faculty_ is only a _word_,—it is the name of the fact,—and all the difficulty remains just where it was before.

Besides, you speak only of the facts that you suppose yourself able to explain; you say nothing of those that you render by your system wholly inexplicable. You say not one word as to the unity of the understanding, the unity of the _me_, or you deny it. But the unity of the understanding, the unity of the _me_, is a fact of the conscious sense, and the conscious sense is more powerful than all the philosophies together.

Gall is always talking about observation, and he was indeed, as an observer, full of ingenuity. But, in order to follow out an observation, it must be traced to the very end, and we must accept all that it yields to our research; and observation every where gives, and shows every where, and above all things else, the unity of the understanding, the unity of the _me_.

Gall’s philosophy consists only in transmuting into a particular understanding each separate _mode_[35] of the understanding, properly so called.

Descartes had already said, “There are in us as many faculties as there are truths to be known.... But I do not think that any useful application can be made of this way of thinking; and it seems to me rather more likely to be mischievous, by giving to the ignorant occasion for imagining an equal number of little entities in the soul.”[36]

It may well be supposed that Gall, who in the word understanding sees nothing but an abstract word, expressive of the sum of our intellectual faculties, would also, in the word _will_, perceive nothing more than an abstract word, expressing the sum of our moral faculties.

He had given a definition of _reason_: “The result of the simultaneous action of all the intellectual faculties.”[37] In the same way he defined _will_ to be “the result of the simultaneous action of the superior intellectual faculties.”[38] But Gall always deceives himself; for reason and will are not _results_—they are _powers_, and primary powers of thought.

Gall, in a manner equally singular, defines _moral liberty_ or _free will_.

“Moral liberty,” says he, “is nothing more than the faculty of _being determined_, and of determining under motive.”[39] Not so: liberty is precisely the power to determine against all motive. Locke well defined liberty as _power_: to be determined, is to allow one’s self to be determined—that is, to _obey_.

Gall says again, “Unlimited liberty supposes not only that man governs himself independently of all law, but that he is the creator of his own nature.”[40] Not at all; it supposes that he may have choice—and in fact he does choose.

Lastly, Gall says, “A phenomenon such as that of absolute liberty, would be a phenomenon occurring without any cause whatever.”[41] Why without cause? The cause is in the power of choosing—and this power is a fact.

Gall’s whole doctrine is one series of errors, which press upon each other cumulatively. He resolves that the part of the brain in which the understanding resides shall be divided into many small organs, distinct from each other; a physiological error. He decries the unity of the understanding, and looks upon the will and the reason as mere results—psycological errors. In the free will he perceives merely a compulsory determination,[42] and consequently a mere result—this is a moral error.

Man’s liberty is a positive faculty, and not the simple passive result of the preponderance of one _motive_ over another _motive_, of one _organ_ over another _organ_.[43]

Reason, will, liberty, are therefore, not as in Gall’s doctrine, _positive faculties_, _active powers_; or rather, they are the understanding itself. Reason, will, liberty, are in fact the understanding, as _conceiving_, _willing_, _choosing_, or _deliberating_.[44]

The consciousness which feels itself to be one, feels itself free. And you will remark, that these two great facts given out by the inward sense, the consciousness, to wit, the unity of the understanding and the positive power of the free will, are precisely the two first facts denied by the philosophy of Gall.

And take good care to observe further, that if there be in us any thing that belongs to the _consciousness_, it is evidently and par excellence the sense of our personal unity; or what is more, the consciousness of our moral liberty.

Man is a moral force, only inasmuch as he is a free force. Any philosophy that attempts the liberty of man, attempts, without knowing it, morals itself. Man then is free, and as he is a moral agent only in proportion as he is free, it would seem that his liberty is the only attribute of his soul from which Providence has designed to remove all the boundaries.

“What is here very remarkable,” says Descartes, “is that, of all within me, there is not one thing so perfect or so great, but that I know it might be greater and more perfect. Thus, for example, if I consider my faculty of conceiving, I find it of very small extent, and very limited. If, in the same manner, I examine the memory, the imagination, or any other one of my faculties, I find not one that is not very limited and very small. Within me there is only my will or my liberty of free will, which I feel to be so great that I conceive not the idea of another more full and of greater extent.”[45]

II.

OF GALL.

OF THE FACULTIES.

Gall’s philosophy consists wholly in the substitution of _multiplicity_ for _unity_. In place of one general and single brain,[46] he substitutes a number of small brains: instead of one general sole understanding, he substitutes several individual understandings.[47] These pretended _individual understandings_ are the _faculties_.

Now, Gall admits the existence of twenty-seven of these faculties, each one of them (since each one is a peculiar understanding) endowed with its perceptive faculty, its memory, its judgment, its imagination; &c.[48]

Hence, there are twenty-seven perceptive faculties, twenty-seven memories, twenty-seven judgments, twenty-seven imaginations, &c.

For, if we are to follow Gall, each attribute is not less distinct than each faculty. The memory, the judgment, imagination, &c. of one faculty are not the memory, judgment, or imagination of another faculty.

“The sense of numbers,” says he, “possesses a judgment for the relations of numbers; the sense of the arts, a judgment for works of art; but where the fundamental faculty is wanting, the judgment relative to objects of that faculty must necessarily be wanting likewise.”[49]

He says further: “It is impossible for an individual to possess imagination and judgment for any object with the fundamental faculty for which he has not been gifted by nature.”[50]

Thus, beyond all doubt: there are twenty-seven faculties; and as there are twenty-seven faculties, there must be twenty-seven memories, judgments, imaginations, &c.

In one word, there is no such thing as a general understanding; but there are twenty-seven special understandings, with three or four times twenty-seven distinct attributes of each. Such is the entire psycology of Gall.

To proceed. Gall’s twenty-seven faculties are: the instinct of propagation, love of offspring, self-defence, the carnivorous instinct, the sense of property, friendship, cunning, pride, vanity, circumspection, memory for things, memory for words, sense of locality, sense of persons, sense of language, of relations of colours, relations of sounds, relations of numbers, of mechanics, of comparative sagacity, the metaphysical genius, sarcasm, poetic talent, benevolence, imitation, religion, firmness.

Gall says that these faculties are innate,[51] and this assertion certainly will not be contested.

Locke, who so vigorously opposed the doctrine of innate ideas, never decried the _innateness_ of our faculties. He always regarded them as natural, that is to say, _innate_.[52]

Condillac himself, who charges Locke with having considered the faculties of the soul as _innate_, in making these charges confounds the _faculties of the soul_ with the _operations of the soul_.[53]

Now, that which is perfectly true as to the _operations of the soul_, is by no means so as regards her _faculties_. All the faculties of the soul are innate and contemporary, for they are nothing more than _modes_ of the soul; indeed, they are the soul itself, viewed under different aspects. But the operations of the soul succeed each other, and beget each other. There can be no memory without previous perception; there can be no judgment without recollection. In order that there may be a will, there must have been a judgment, &c.

After saying that the faculties are innate, Gall says also that they are _independent_.[54]

And if, by the word _independent_, he means distinct, there is nothing less contestible. But if, by this word _independent_, he understood (as indeed he does understand) that each faculty is a real understanding, the question is altered and the difficulty begins.

For, if each individual faculty is a proper understanding, it follows that there are as many understandings as there are faculties, and the understanding ceases to be _one_, and the _me_ is no longer _one_. I am well aware that this is exactly what Gall means; he says it, and reiterates it throughout his work. He says it, but does not prove it. And how should he prove it? Can we prove any thing against our consciousness?

“I remark here, in the first place,” says Descartes, “that there is a great difference between the mind and the body, in that the body is, by its nature, always divisible, and the mind wholly indivisible. For, in fact, when I contemplate it—that is, when I contemplate my own self—and consider myself as a thing that thinks, I cannot discover in myself any parts, but I clearly know and conceive that I am a thing absolutely one and complete.”[55]

Gall reverses the common philosophy, and it is worthy of remark, that the whole of his philosophy, which he thinks so novel,[56] is, to the very letter, nothing more nor less than this very inversion. According to common philosophy, there is one general understanding—a unit; and there are faculties which are but modes of this understanding. Gall asserts that there are as many kinds of peculiar intelligences as there are faculties, and that the understanding in general is nothing more than a mode or attribute of each faculty. He says so expressly.

His words are: “The intellectual faculty and all its subdivisions, such as perception, recollection, memory, judgment, and imagination, are not fundamental faculties, but merely their general attributes.”[57]

Gall first inverts the common philosophy, and then contends for the existence of all the consequences of that common philosophy.

He suppresses the _me_, but insists that there is a soul. He abolishes the freewill, and yet contends that there is such a thing as morals. He makes of the idea of God an idea that is merely relative and conditional, but yet asserts that there may be such a thing as religion.

I say he abolishes the _me_; for the _me_ is the soul. The soul is the understanding, general and one; but if there be no understanding as general, there can be no soul.

According to Gall, there is nothing real and positive except the _faculties_.

And these faculties alone are possessed of organs. “None of my predecessors,” says he, “had any knowledge of those forces which alone are the functions of special cerebral organs.”[58]

By the contrary reasoning, neither the will, nor the reason, nor the understanding, are possessed of any organs, for they are nothing but forces; they are nothing but nouns collective—words.

“These observations may suffice,” says Gall, “to convince the reader that there cannot exist any special organ of the will, or the freewill.”[59] He adds: “It is equally impossible that there should be any peculiar organ of the reason.”[60]

Finally he says: “From all that I have now said it follows, that the idea of an organ of the intellect or understanding is quite as inadmissible as the idea of an organ of the instinct.”[61]

Hence there can be nought but the faculties; and, according to Gall, these faculties are so distinct, that he attributes to each particular one a separate organ.[62] He divides the understanding into little understandings.

Descartes expressed himself in the following words: “We do not conceive of any body, except as divisible; whereas the human mind cannot conceive of itself except as indivisible; for in fact we are incapable of conceiving of half a soul.”[63] Gall, however, settles that point. He makes half souls. He retrenches or adds as many faculties as suits his plan. These faculties are separated by material limits. He goes so far as to say that such or such a faculty acts with greater or less facility upon such or such another faculty, according as one happens to be situated nearer to or farther off from the other.

“As the organ of the arts,” says he, “is located far from that of the sense of colour, the circumstance explains why historical painters have rarely been colourists.”[64]

Thus, we find that the faculties alone are possessed of _forces_. These forces alone are endowed with organs; and these organs, by which they are kept separate from each other, separate them to distances sufficiently great to hinder, in certain cases, one given faculty from exercising any influence over another. Therefore, there is no such thing as unity; there is no unit faculty, no unit understanding; there is no _me_; and if there be no _me_, there can be no soul.

In the same way he abolishes the _freewill_. Will, liberty, reason, in his view,[65] are nothing but _results_, as I have already stated.

“To the end,” says he, “that man may not be confined merely to the ability to wish—in order that he may actually will—the concurrence of several superior faculties is requisite. The motives must be weighed, compared, and judged; the decision resulting from this operation is denominated will.”[66]

“Reason,” he further adds, “supposes a concerted action of the superior faculties. It is the judgment pronounced by the superior intellectual faculties.”[67]

Hence, the will is nothing but a _decision_; reason is nothing but a _judgment_. The faculties _concert together_. What a singular philosophy, which always substitutes the fictions of language for the facts of the conscious sense, and which is satisfied with those fictions!

Freewill is either a power, a force, or it is nothing. He resolves that it is merely a _result_. Gall therefore abolishes the freewill.

Indeed, he makes of the idea of God nothing but a relative and conditional idea, for he supposes that this idea comes from a particular organ; and he supposes that that organ may possibly, in some case, be wanting.

“It cannot be doubted,” says Gall, “that the human race are endowed with an organ by means of which it recognises and admires the Author of the universe.”[68]

“God exists,” adds he, “for there is an organ to know and adore him.”[69]

But he continues: “Climate and other circumstances may obstruct the development of the cerebral part, by means of which the Creator designed to reveal himself to his creature man.”[70]

Again: “If there were a people whose organization should be altogether defective in this respect, they would be as little susceptible as any other kinds of animal, of the religious idea or sentiment.”[71]

Further: “There is no God for beings whose organization does not bear the original stamp of determinate faculties.”[72]

What! If I happen not to possess a little peculiar organ, (for it may be wanting,) can I not feel that God exists! And how can I be an intelligence, knowing myself, and yet not knowing that God is? I do not more strongly feel that I am, than that God is. “This idea,” (the idea of God) says Descartes, “is born and produced along with me, just as is the idea of myself.”[73]

My understanding, which perceives itself and feels itself to be an effect, necessarily perceives the intelligent Cause which produced it. “It is a very evident thing,” says Descartes again, “that there must be at least as much reality in a cause as in the effect it produces; and since I am a thing that thinks, whatsoever be in fact the cause of my being, I am compelled to confess, that _it also_ is something that thinks.”[74]

Hitherto I have considered Gall’s philosophy only under its speculative points of view; what would it be, if considered in a practical relation?

In one of his happy moments, Diderot wrote the following very remarkable phrase: “The ruin of liberty overthrows all order and all government, confounds vice and virtue together, sanctions every monstrous infamy, extinguishes all shame and all remorse, and degrades and deforms without recovery the whole human race.”[75]

Nothing astonishes a phrenologist.

“Let us imagine,” says Gall, “a woman in whom the love of offspring is but little developed, ... if, unfortunately, the organ of murder be very much developed in her, need we be surprised if her hand....”[76] &c.

Organization explains every thing.

“These last named facts show us,” says Gall, “that this detestable inclination (the inclination to commit murder) has its source in a vice of the organization.”[77]

“Let those haughty men,” says he again, “who cause nations to be slaughtered by thousands, know that they do not act of their own accord, but that Nature herself has filled their hearts with rage and destructiveness.”[78]

No, indeed! This is not what they must know; for, thanks be to God, it is not true. What they ought to know, what they ought to be told, is, that although Providence has left to man the power to do evil, he has also endowed him with the power to do good. That which man ought to know, that which should be instilled into his mind and heart is, that he has a free power, and that this power ought not to be misdirected; and that he who in his own nature misdirects it, no matter under what form of philosophy he takes refuge, is a being who degrades his nature.

Under the title of _fundamental faculties_, Gall confounds all things together—the passions, the instinct, the intellectual faculties. These faculties, which are at the basis of his whole philosophy, he knows not even how to denominate them. He calls them instincts,[79] inclinations, senses, memories, &c. There is a memory or sense of things, a memory or sense of persons, &c. He confounds the instinct that leads certain animals to live in elevated regions with pride, which is a moral sentiment in man;[80] the carnivorous instinct with courage;[81] he believes that conscience, (which is the soul judging itself,) is nothing but a modification of a particular sense, the sense of benevolence, &c.[82]

The hesitation of his mind is visible every where.

“I leave it to the reader,” says he, “to decide whether the fundamental faculty to which this penchant relates, should be denominated sense of elevation, self-esteem,” &c.[83]

“To speak correctly,” continues he, “firmness is neither a penchant nor a faculty; it is a mode-of-being, which gives to a man a distinctive quality, which is called character.”[84]

Finally, he writes the following paragraph, perhaps the most singular one that he ever wrote, for it shows in the clearest manner how little confidence he had in his own psycology.

“If we are materialists because we do not admit the existence of a unit-faculty of the soul, but recognise several primitive faculties, we ask whether the ordinary division of the faculties of the soul into understanding, will, attention, memory, judgment, imagination, and affections and passions, expresses nothing more than a primitive unit-faculty? If it be asserted that all these faculties are merely modifications of a sole and same faculty, what can hinder us from making the same assertion as to the faculties whose existence we do admit.”[85]

To be sure, nothing prevents you. Or rather every thing constrains you to do so. There is therefore one sole faculty, of which all the other faculties are but moods. You return then to the common philosophy, and consequently you no longer possess a peculiar philosophy.

The problem proposed by Gall is at the same time physiological, psycological, and anatomical.

In our first article an account has been given of Gall’s _physiology_, and it has been shown to be generally disproved by direct experiment. In the present one his _psycology_ has been examined, and it is confuted by the consciousness (_le sens intime_). It only remains for us now to examine his _anatomy_.

III.

OF GALL.

THE ORGANS.

Of all Gall’s writings, his anatomy is that which has been most talked of, and yet it is the part least known.

In the year 1808, Gall read to the first class of the Institute a memoir on the anatomy of the brain;[86] and M. Cuvier made a report upon that memoir. But neither in that memoir nor in the report do we find one word of _special anatomy_, of _secret anatomy_, of what might be called _anatomy of the Doctrine_; or, in other terms, and as it would be expressed at the present day, of _phrenological anatomy_.

The anatomy of Gall’s memoir is nothing but a very ordinary anatomy. He insists that the cerebral nerves, all of them without exception, rise upwards from the medulla oblongata towards the encephalon; that the cineritious matter produces the white matter: he divides the fibres of the brain into _divergent_ and _convergent_; he supposes that each convolution of this organ, instead of being a full and solid mass, as is generally thought, is merely a fold[87] of nervous or medullary fibres, &c. &c.

Such are the questions discussed by Gall; and it is sufficiently clear that, whatever side we take upon these questions, his doctrine assuredly would neither gain nor lose any thing.

Whether such or such a nerve ascends or descends; whether the white matter is produced by the gray; or whether, which is, to say the least, quite as probable, this be nonsense; whether this or that fibre goes out or comes in, diverges or converges, &c. &c. the doctrine of the plurality of brains, the doctrine of individual intelligences, will be neither more nor less true, more nor less doubtful.[88]