Cataloging faces : from the semantics of facial categorization to the pragmatics of biopower

Nestled just a few steps away from the charming Canal Saint-Martin, at the bend crowned by the elegant Bichat footbridge, lies the captivating irregular pentagon of Saint-Louis Hospital - an emblematic health center in Paris's 10th arrondissement. The very street names encircling its perimeter narrate a fascinating tale of medical advancements spanning the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Among these notable thoroughfares, Rue Bichat stands out, a tribute to the esteemed Marie François Xavier Bichat (1771-1802) to whom Auguste Comte dedicated the thirteenth and final month of the positivist calendar.Bichat himself was an indefatigable anatomopathologist, his passion for his work so immense that he was once caught surreptitiously removing corpses from the Saint-Roch cemetery – a clandestine endeavor aimed at studying the bodies of the Revolution’s unfortunate victims. Engaging in spirited and nuanced debates surrounding the essence of life force, Bichat devoted himself to the meticulous collection of membranes and the systematic cataloging of various tissues. Today, he is revered as the father of modern histology and credited with the profound aphorism, 'la vie est l'ensemble des fonctions qui résistent à la mort' ('life is the sum of functions that resist death'). While the roots of modern anatomy can be traced back to the sixteenth century, it was during the late eighteenth century that the field attained new-found expertise in scrutinizing and categorizing physiological and pathological properties. This remarkable progress was propelled by two key factors: the abundant influx of anonymous cadavers left in the wake of the Revolution and its aftermath, and a burgeoning scientific sensibility. The latter, characterized by a rational articulation of the seemingly chaotic and formless, offered the tantalizing prospect of attaining profound, if not exhaustive, knowledge. [...] It is crucial to underscore that the creation of this order necessitated the art of rhetoric, often showcased in grand medical lectures that drew crowds to the anatomical theaters of the time. Equally vital were the iconic aids, entrusted with the task of resurrecting the visual order obliterated by the ravages of aging tissues or the ravishing effects of epidermal diseases. These images, whether in patterns or graphs, assumed the responsibility of restoring a semblance of order and comprehension.