In Chapter 80 of Moby Dick, Ishmael mocks the 19th-century pseudo-scientific practice of phrenology through a faux-scientific analysis of the whale’s skull that exposes the absurdity of determining intellectual and moral qualities through physical form. Ishmael’s exaggerated attempts to measure the whale’s intellectual qualities through the size and shape of its skull and preference to feel a man’s spine to categorize him, rather than his skull, critique humanity’s misguided attempts to categorize nature’s creations through flawed and doctored systems of knowledge.

Although Moby Dick was written in the 1850s when science was not at its best and pseudo-science was rampant in a pathetic attempt to expand colonization and white superiority, some of the points that Ishmael proposes can easily be understand or dismissed as being common sense. He begins the chapter by stating, “If the Sperm whale be physiologically a Sphinx, to the phrenologist his brain seems that geometrical circle, which is impossible to square” (381). Comparing the whale to a mythological Sphinx does us no good in producing scientific evidence, but throughout the novel, constant mention of ancient Egypt, the Sphinx, and hieroglyphics has symbolized the difficulty in reading a human’s skin, behavior, or mind. Following this quote, the chapter reads, “But in life – as we have elsewhere seen – this inclined plane [the skull]  is angularly filled up, and almost squared by the enormous super incumbent mass of the junk and sperm” (381). Almost immediately, Ishmael dismantles the idea that the whale’s brain cannot be “squared”, according to phrenologists, proposing that the scientific evidence and ideas produced by them can easily be debunked. There is difficulty in reading the human brain and his characteristic through his skull, and the easy debunking of Ishmael’s first claim quickly leads into the dismantling of the use of phrenology. 

A whale is massive in size, meaning that its brain is much bigger than a human’s as is all of the material built up inside of it, meaning that it is also difficult for us to read the skull and brain with all the tissue surrounding and protecting it.  As the chapter continues, Ishmael states, “Lying in strange folds, courses, and convolutions, to their apprehensions, it seems more in keeping with the idea of his general might to regard that mystic part of his as the seat of his intelligence” (381). Here he is contributing to the views of phrenologists; throughout the entire novel, Ishmael is known for stating something and directly contradicting it, and so on and so forth as it progresses. The bulk of the whale’s head, from an outside perspective, shows no expanse of where the brain might sit, if any, creating the idea of a “false brow to the common world” (382), one that depicts the creature as brainless because its brow cannot be read to formulate the size or existence of its brain. Once more, this novel is set in a time where phrenology depicted the characteristics of humans based off of the shape of their skull, and the lack of brains within, producing false scientific evidence that made Europeans morally and physically superior to their black counterparts. Applying this idea to the whale would indicate that, despite its size, skill, intelligence, and danger, it is but a mindless creature, passive and almost idiotic in sense, because we cannot read his skull from his exterior. 

Once more, a contradiction comes into play as Ishmael talks down on the pseudo-scientific practice of phrenology by dismissing the investigations through the skull and proposing the evidence be taken from the spine of the whale, or human. He states, “For I believe that much of a man’s character will be found betokened in the backbone, I would rather feel your spine than your skull, whoever you are. A thin joist of a spine never yet upheld a full and noble soul. I rejoice in my spine, as in the firm audacious staff of a flag which I fling half out to the world” (382). The idea that the backbone upholds more of a man’s character represents the part of our body that carries us; yes, our heads and feet assist in the balance of the human body whilst being upright, but the spine is such a vast expanse of bone that connects the head, torso, and lower body that is is arguably of more importance than the reading of the skull. With no backbone, a man is weak; a “spineless” individual has been depicted as a weak or immoral one for centuries, someone who does not have the nerve to speak up, stand out, and defend. Ishmael compares the human spine to the spinal cord of the whale, its size never wavering in comparison to its skull as it tapers down into the tail. It is directly connected to the skull, a path that feeds mobility and strength. The final sentence of the above quote is also symbolic of the strength of men, or the weakness of them. To compare the spine to a flag is representative of the backbone of the country; in a time where scientific evidence is altered for desired results, making white men more superior than black men, these men are ultimately lacking in a backbone. Their flag does not stand upright, it falters and sags, and cannot be thrown out unwavering to the rest of the country. It is reflective of the country’s lack of morals, despite the phrenological evidence that it has more than the “other”. 

Ishmael’s mockery of phrenology and pseud-scientific evidence compares the skull and spine of the whale to man, and proposing the dismissal of scientific practices that create falsified evidence. To depict a man’s character through a part of the body that is shrouded by flesh, muscle, and tissue makes it difficult to understand them, and thus can be twisted into creating misconceptions about them. However, to define a man by the part of his body that holds him upright, that, in Ishmael’s eyes, is connected to the noble soul, you can better define a man by his strength, skill, and prowess. With this, all the “evidence” of pseudo-science can be dismissed, for the false brow of the whale hides the true mass of his brain, and the morality of his soul.