Franz Joseph Gall, German Phrenologist


Franz Josef Gall (March 9, 1758 - August 22, 1828) was a neuroanatomist, physiologist, and founder of phrenology. His contributions to the field of neuropsychology were controversial at the time and now widely referred to as pseudoscience. Based on his early observations about the skull sizes and facial features of his classmates, Gall developed the theory of Organology and the method of Cranioscopy that would later be known as Phrenology. His version of Organology states that the mind is a collection of independent entities housed within the brain. Cranioscopy is a method to determine the personality and development of mental and moral faculties on the basis of the external shape of the skull. His study of phrenology helped establish psychology as a science, contributed to the emergence of the naturalistic approach to the study of man, and played an important part in the development of evolutionist theories, anthropology, and sociology. He died in 1828, at the age of 70.


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