The Greek Profile: Hegel’s Aesthetics and the Implications of a Pseudo‐science

Abstract

The purpose of this study is threefold. First, as my title anticipates, I wish to examine Hegel's discussion of classical sculpture and, in particular, the importance he attributes to the Greek profile. To do this it will be necessary to familiarize ourselves with the sources Hegel invokes in his discussion of Greek sculpture, sources which, though largely obscure to modern readers, were widely known at the beginning of the nineteenth century and served to condition Hegel's treatment of classical beauty. As Hegel's discussion of these sources does not only appear in the Vorlesungen über die Äesthetik (1835), but also occupies a substantial number of pages in the Phänomenologie des Geistes (1807), it is necessary to investigate these pages as well, particularly the section entitled "The Certainty and Truth of Reason." In this section, not only is it revealed that reason is the highest expression of spirit, but it is also here that Hegel evaluates the claims of two pseudo-sciences: physiognomy and phrenology.In what follows, I argue that Hegel's understanding of physiognomy is more nuanced than commentators have generally maintained. What commentators have failed to address in their often detailed discussions of Hegel's critique of physiognomy in the Phänomenologie is that the topic of physiognomy makes a subsequent appearance in the Äesthetik where Hegel actually employs the methods of physiognomy in his discussion of the sculptural formation of the Greek profile. 1 The articles that concentrate on Hegel's treatment of physiognomy focus

Winckelmann’s Apollo and the Physiognomy of Race

“…Camper, who was interested in painting and gave lectures on art to students in Amsterdam in 1770, knew the theories of Winckelmann, whose "excellent observations" he enjoyed the opportunity of consulting in 1768. 41 Even though he took care to emphasise that his scientific theories had been developed before the encounter with Winckelmann's ideas, the central concept in Camper's physiognomy, "facial angle" (see below), doubtless recalls Winckelmann's "Greek profile. "…”