Franz Joseph Gall on God and religion: “Dieu et Cerveau, rien que Dieu et cerveau!”

Abstract

Franz Joseph Gall's (1758–1828) doctrine of many faculties of mind with corresponding cortical organs led him to be accused of materialism, fatalism, and even atheism. Yet little has been written about the specific charges he felt forced to respond to in Vienna, while visiting the German States, or in Paris, where he published his books. This article examines these accusations and Gall's responses. It also looks at what Gall wrote about a cortical faculty for God and religion and seeing intelligent design in the functional organization of the brain. Additionally, it presents what can be gleaned about his private thoughts on God and organized religion. We conclude that Gall was sincere in his admiration for and belief in God the Creator, but that as an enlightened scientist was recognizing the need to separate metaphysics from the laws of nature when presenting his new science of man.

The quest for objectivity and measurements in phrenology’s “bumpy” history.

“…Two basic sorts of criticisms were being leveled at the doctrine when Roget began writing about it as his “duty” to the public. One was that it was materialistic and fatalistic; that Gall had dispensed with the immortal soul and was presenting humans as little more than living machines (Eling and Finger 2021). Gall first heard this charge in 1801, while still in Vienna.…”