Fowler, Lydia Folger (1823-1879)

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Lydia Folger was born on 5 May 1823 in Nantucket, Massachusetts, and died on 26 January 1879 in London, England. Her writing often refers to the fact that God created mankind as the highest species, that bodies were made for a purpose, and that, though women have a separate sphere, it is not wrong for them to learn about physiology. Her activism for women's rights connected to her medical work through her involvement in the Women's Temperance movement.

Through phrenology, Fowler explains that attributes traditionally applied to the human, such as the capacity for speech, will, and emotion, are grounded in physiological processes, and thus are available, in various degrees, to whatever animal possesses the “organs” to perform these capacities. Fowler compares the skulls and brains of humans and other animals and maps moral and behavioral characteristics onto her anatomical observations – be it “organs” in the head (areas in the brain), or the shape of specific regions of the skull. The notion of “intellect,” however, remains immaterial for Fowler. She uses the discourse of phrenology to justify a welfarist animal ethics and her phrenological lexicon also serves to provide an explanation of the causes of gratuitous violence, both against animals and among humans. Fowler identifies the propensity for violence (called Destructiveness) with carnism – though only in animals and, conveniently, in animals that are not traditionally domesticated: lions and bears, for example, have long, sharp teeth and are therefore carnivorist, whereas e.g. sheep are not.

PUBLICATIONS

Last updated on June 24th, 2024

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