Carla Valentine

Carla Valentine Instagram – Life After Death…. Ahead of his time (that’s not a pun – I’ve just noticed his head between his feet 🤦) Jeremy Bentham, born in London in 1748, devised the doctrine of utilitarianism, arguing that the ‘greatest happiness of the greatest number is the only right and proper end of government’. He was a major thinker in the fields of legal philosophy and representative democracy, and originated modern ideas of surveillance through his scheme for a prison called the Panopticon. He supported the idea of equal opportunity in education and his ideas contributed to the foundation of a major university here – University College London – the first institution in England to admit students of any race, class or religion and the first to welcome women on equal terms with men. Bentham’s ideas have tremendous relevance to contemporary society; engaging with his thinking helps us to understand better the world we live in today. Bentham was so progressive that when he died in 1832 he left his body to medical science (mostly organs and skin). He also requested that his skeleton be preserved and this ‘Auto-Icon’ as Bentham called it, pictured, was gifted to University College London in 1850 by Bentham’s surgeon. Today Bentham is displayed in UCL’s South Cloisters dressed in his own clothes and sitting in his chair.  As you can see from this picture, the head of the auto-icon is a model made from wax with glass eyes because the process of dessicating his real head went quite badly. You can see it between his feet though…! Now, the head has been moved to the Strong Room of the records department and can only be seen by special request. Many people have speculated as to exactly why Bentham chose to have his body preserved in this way, but whatever his true motives, the Auto-Icon will always be a source of fascination and debate, and will serve as a perpetual reminder of the man whose ideals inspired the institution in which it stands. 
#carlaween #halloweencountdown #halloween #humanremains #severedhead #skeleton #autoicon #jeremybentham #equality #equalopportunity #progressive #remains2beseen #london | Posted on 03/Oct/2023 21:40:43