The end of the soul : scientific modernity, atheism, and anthropology in France

431 Pages·2003·6.894 MB·English

by  Hecht, Jennifer Michael

The End of the Soul
Y

The End of the Soul
Y
Scientific Modernity,Atheism, and Anthropology in France
Jennifer Michael Hecht
Columbia University Press
New York
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester,West Sussex
Copyright © 2003 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hecht,Jennifer Michael,1965–
The end of the soul :scientific modernity,atheism,and anthropology in France /
Jennifer Michael Hecht.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–231–12846–0(cloth :alk.paper)
1.Atheism—France—History.2.Religion and science—France—History.3.
Anthropology—Religious aspects—History.4.Anthropology—France—History.5.
France—Religion. I.Title.
BL2765.F8H43 2003
211(cid:1).8(cid:1)094409034—dc21 2002035093
Columbia University Press books are
printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
c 10987654321
To my sister and brother

Contents
Y
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction:The End of the Soul 1
1. The Society of Mutual Autopsy and the Liturgy of Death 6
2. Evangelical Atheism and the Rise of French Anthropology 41
3. Scientific Materialism and the Public Response 91
4. Careers in Anthropology and the Bertillon Family 135
5. No Soul,No Morality:Vacher de Lapouge 168
6. Body and Soul:Léonce Manouvrier and the Disappearing Numbers 211
7. The Leftist Critique of Determinist Science 257
8. Coda 296
Conclusion 306
Notes 317
Bibliography 366
Index 386

Illustrations
Y
Illustrations are set following p.210.
1.Caricature of Abel Hovelacque on the cover of the periodical Les hommes
d’aujourd’hui
2.Caricature of Mathias Duval on the cover of the periodical Les hommes
d’aujourd’hui
3.Caricature of Clémence Royer on the cover of the periodical Les hommes
d’aujourd’hui
4.Caricature of Henri Thulié on the cover of the periodical Les hommes
d’aujourd’hui
5.Group picture from the Moscow Anthropological Exposition
6.Photograph of Léonce Manouvrier,with signature
7.Photograph of Charles Letourneau,with signature
8.Exhibits at the museum of the School of Anthropology
9.Artificially deformed skulls from the museum of the School of Anthropology
10. A ticket to the annual Broca Conference
11. Bertillon’s chart of eye types
12. Brains in the Society of Mutual Autopsy Collection
13. Skulls from Lapouge’s L’Aryen
14. Reading party at the home of Alphonse Daudet,April 11,1882
15. Statutes of the Society of Mutual Autopsy
ix