La caratterizzazione dei popoli nei trattati antichi di fisiognomica

The characterisation of peoples in ancient treatises of physiognomy
In ancient treatises of physiognomy, the characterisation of peoples, mainly connected to spatial differentiation and a hierarchical vision of humanity, is presented as a scientific form of knowledge, based on natural and objective criteria. The essay suggests a cognitive approach to this knowledge: an analysis of how this characterisation was established, and how philosophers in ancient times legitimated this knowledge through the theory of signs. Subsequently the article focuses on the social role played by physiognomy and its use as an instrument to manage and control men. The characterisation of people ever since antiquity has been a form of knowledge that was in the hands of whoever wielded the power, a store of opinions and experiences without any objective validity, as the sceptics of the past have already proven, by underlining the limitations of all the attempts to represent the world or to achieve identification.