Resumen de Des électrodes pour une âme fantôme: l'anatomie animée de duchenne de boulogne
During the nineteenth century, the problem of significant gestures became a scientific issue for physicians, psychologists, artists... The physician Duchenne de Boulogne invented a method to study the relations between the muscles of the face and the emotions. He created artificial mimics by stimulating the face with an electric device. By this way he established what he called an `alphabet' of the emotions. Darwin highly praised Duchenne's works, discussed his ideas and used his photographs. However, it was discussed whether these artificial expressions could have a real signification. Simulation was another issue, and Diderot's Paradoxe sur le comédien was often referred to. Some authors emphasized how artificial mimics or gestures, or intentional simulations can provoke a real emotion. Others, among the artists, thought that to be understood, emotions must be exaggerated. The body-mind problem was at stake in these debates.
