Abstract

VELAZQUEZ DELGADO, Graciela. The debate for the soul: a struggle between phrenology and religion in the press of Mexico City, 1835-1851. Let. hist. [online]. 2020, n.22, pp.39-62.  Epub Apr 30, 2021. ISSN 2448-8372.  https://doi.org/10.31836/lh.22.7218.

Phrenology emerged in the European medical field of the late eighteenth century and had its peak during the nineteenth century. Its main postulate was that the soul was in the brain, that is to say that it had a material location in the body. In Mexico it was also practiced by a large number of individuals, such as doctors. As soon as the dissemination of this materialist theory was known, the representatives of the Catholic Church began to discredit it in society. So, in this article, we analyze the debates on the "soul" that held representatives of the Catholic Church with some phrenologists or sympathizers of phrenology in the main newspapers of circulation in Mexico City, in a period from 1835 to 1851.

Keywords : soul; phrenology; materialism; spiritualism; science vs religion.