Criminal Man, According to the Classification of Cesare LombrosoBook Abstract : Argues that the phenomena of atavistic retrogression do not always indicate true degradation, but that very often they are simply a compensation for considerable development and progress accomplished in other directions. Reptiles have more ribs than we have; quadrupeds and apes possess more muscles than we do, and an entire organ, the tail, which we lack. It has been in losing these advantages that we have gained our intellectual superiority. When this is seen, the repugnance to the theory of genius as degeneration at once disappears. Just as giants pay a heavy ransom for their stature in sterility and relative muscular and mental weakness, so the giants of thought expiate their intellectual force in degeneration and psychoses. It is thus that the signs of degeneration are found more frequently in men of genius than even in the insane. And again, this theory has entered to-day on so certain a path, and agrees so entirely with my studies on genius, that it is impossible for me not to accept it, and not to see in it an indirect confirmation of my own ideas. I find this confirmation in the characters of degeneration recently discovered and still more in the uncertainty of the theories which were at first advanced to explain the problem of genius. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). |
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Criminal Man, According to the Classification of Cesare Lombroso Cesare Lombroso,Lombroso-Ferrero Gina No preview available - 2018 |
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A. C. HADDON abnormal accused Adults alcohol anomalies arrested asylums atavistic born criminals boys brachycephaly brigand camorra cause cells cephalic index CESARE LOMBROSO character characteristic colony committed common convicted cretins crime criminal anthropology criminaloids criminals show cure degenerate disease epilepsy epileptic especially esthesiometer evil examination excessive existence eyes fact father female field of vision frequently genius girls greater number habits hair hallucinations head heredity homicide hysterical ideas importance imprisonment impulses incisors inebriate instincts institutions Italian Lacenaire lunatics macrocephaly manifested means mental alienation morally insane morbid murder nature normal individuals normal persons observed obtuse offenders ordinary pain passion patient peculiar penal Penal colonies penalties physical and psychic plagiocephaly primitive prison punishment pyramidal cells realise reflex action Reformatory remorse savage scotoma seizure sensibility sexual skull social sometimes strabismus suffered suicide swindlers tattooing teeth theft thieves tion victim violence women
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Page xiv - This was not merely an idea, but a revelation. At the sight of that skull, I seemed to see all of a sudden, lighted up as a vast plain under a flaming sky, the problem of the nature of the criminal — an atavistic being who reproduces in his person the ferocious instincts of primitive humanity and the inferior animals.