The term physiognomy or physiognomy, since both spellings are correct, has two components: physis which is equivalent to nature and gnomon which means to discern. As for the meaning of the term, there are two possible meanings: it is the appearance of someone's face or the outward appearance of something.
The language of the face
Humans communicate with words, with gestures and with our face, since facial features and expression convey information about who we are. In fact, there are specialists in this field who argue that it is possible to describe someone's personality based on their facial characteristics. In this sense, wide faces indicate a capacity for sacrifice, a smile is related to hormonal levels, asymmetric faces indicate a level of depression, and large eyes are associated with kindness.
Those who know the language of the face affirm that there are many aspects that speak about oneself: the skin tone, the direction of the eyebrows, the look, the nose, the lips or the mouth. Thus, the thin lips indicate self-control, the upturned nose expresses vanity and the bushy eyebrows are typical of vital and impulsive people.
From a historical point of view, the relationship between the face and the personality is a question that has been approached by the ancient Greeks, who analyzed facial and body signs to understand the human soul. The discipline that studies facial features is physiognomy and it is a knowledge that has aroused interest in the world of painting, among writers or in the world of psychology (in the nineteenth century, phrenology was a discipline that studied criminal tendencies of individuals based on the characteristics of their faces).
The outward appearance of something
Everything that surrounds us has an appearance and, therefore, a physiognomy. In other words, everything has a shape and a bottom. When referring to the human face, its shape communicates information about the personality and character, that is, the background of someone. Similarly, what has a human dimension can be understood with the form-ground distinction.
To illustrate this idea, we could think of a personal problem, which has its physiognomy (the external appearance of the problem) and, at the same time, its deep part or background, that is, the implications of the problem.
Photos: Fotolia - Rawpixel / bst2012
