The legal somatics of Bentham’s Auto-Icon and those who willed their carcases away

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorShaw, Joshua D. M.
dc.date.accessioned2024-05-17T22:47:05Z
dc.date.available2024-05-17T22:47:05Z
dc.date.copyright2024-01-31en_US
dc.date.issued2024-01-31
dc.description.abstractThe author undertakes a critical and theoretical study of the political writings of Jeremy Bentham and his friends and colleagues relative to the Anatomy Act 1832 in the United Kingdom; the public dissection of Bentham’s body by Dr. Thomas Southwood Smith in 1832 prior to the passage of the Act; and the “Auto-Icon,” both the subject of his essay on the use and disposal of the dead human body written in 1831 and his name for his simulacrum seated in University College London. The author argues that Bentham’s Auto-Icon is an early exemplar of bioart (art made from human tissues or bodily matter), or at least an instance of political aesthetics making use of the body, which formed part of a project of law reform: in other words, an instance of “legal somatics.” The legal somatics of the bioart are described in terms of literary and aesthetic modes and meanings embodied in the use of bodily matter, and connected to similar acts of those who “willed,” or postured as if they would will, their bodies away for posthumous dissection and use for experimentation, such as John Boys who, 30 years prior to drafting his will contested in Boys v Morgan [1838] EngR 768, 59 ER 359, agreed with a Dr. Hector Campbell “that he should have [Boys’] carcase for chemical and anatomical experiments.” In doing so, the author considers how the human body in, and as, art or aesthetic practice factors in challenging and creating legal principles and values.
dc.description.reviewstatusUnreviewed
dc.description.scholarlevelFacultyen_US
dc.description.sponsorshipUVic Graduate Student Law & Society Research Group
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/16531
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesThinking Time Series No. 7
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.subjectlegal somatics
dc.subjectbioart
dc.subjectuse and disposal of the dead human body
dc.subjectAnatomy Act 1832 in the United Kingdom
dc.subjectJeremy Bentham's Auto-Icon
dc.subjectBoys v Morgan [1838] EngR 768, 59 ER 359
dc.titleThe legal somatics of Bentham’s Auto-Icon and those who willed their carcases away
dc.typePresentation
dc.typeVideo

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
Prof. Joshua Shaw The Legal Somatics of Bentham’s Auto-Icon and Those who Willed their Carcases Away.mp4
Size:
108.29 MB
Format:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.62 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download

Collections

UVic Graduate Student Law & Society Research Group Publications
 
University of Victoria Libraries

We acknowledge and respect the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) Peoples on whose territory the university stands, and the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.