Homunculus

The concept of a homunculus (Latin for "little man", sometimes spelled "homonculus," plural "homunculi") is often used to illustrate the functioning of a system. In the scientific sense of an unknowable prime actor, it can be viewed as an entity or agent.

The term appears to have been first used by the alchemist Paracelsus. He once claimed that he had created a false human being that he referred to as the homunculus. The creature was to have stood no more than 12 inches tall, and did the work usually associated with a golem. However, after a short time, the homunculus turned on its creator and ran away. The recipe consisted of a bag of bones, sperm, skin fragments and hair from any animal of which the homunculus would be a hybrid. This was to be laid in the ground surrounded by horse manure for forty days, at which point the embryo would form.

There are also variants cited by other alchemists. One such variant involved the use of the mandrake. Popular belief held that this plant grew where semen ejaculated by hanged men (during the last convulsive spasms before death) fell to the ground, and its roots vaguely resemble a human form to varying degrees. The root was to be picked before dawn on a Friday morning by a black dog, then washed and "fed" with milk and honey and, in some prescriptions, blood, whereupon it would fully develop into a miniature human which would guard and protect its owner. Yet a third method, cited by Dr. David Christianus at the University of Giessen during the 18th century, was to take an egg laid by a black hen, poke a tiny hole through the shell, replace a bean-sized portion of the white with human sperm, seal the opening with virgin parchment, and bury the egg in dung on the first day of the March lunar cycle. A miniature humanoid would emerge from the egg after thirty days, which would help and protect its creator in return for a steady diet of lavender seeds and earthworms.

The term homunculus was later used in the discussion of conception and birth. In 1694, Nicolas Hartsoeker discovered "animalcules" in the sperm of humans and other animals. Some claimed that the sperm was in fact a "little man" (homunculus) that was placed inside a woman for growth into a child; these later became known as the spermists. This is not as silly as it sounds today, and neatly explained many of the mysteries of conception (for instance, why it takes two). However it was later pointed out that if the sperm was a homunculus, identical in all but size to an adult, then the homunculus must have sperm of its own. This led to a reductio ad absurdum, with a chain of homunculi "all the way down".

Today the term is used in a number of ways to describe systems that are thought of as being run by a "little man" inside. For instance, the homunculus continues to be considered as one of the major theories on the origin of consciousness, that there is a part (or process) in the brain whose purpose is to be "you". The homunculus is often invoked in cybernetics as well, for similar reasons.

The sensory and motor homunculi

The homunculus is also commonly used to describe the distorted human figure drawn to reflect the relative sensory space our body parts occupy on the cerebral cortex. The lips, hands, feet and sex organs are considerably more sensitive than other parts of the body, so the homunculus has grossly large lips, hands and genitals. Well known in the field of neurology, this is also commonly called 'the little man inside the brain.'

Dr Wilder Penfield used a similar image to depict the body according to the areas of the motor cortex controlling it in voluntary movement. Sometimes thought to be the brain's map of the body, the motor homunculus is really a map of the proportionate association of the cortex with body members. It also reflects kinesthetic proprioception, the body as felt in motion. It plays a central role in phantom limb phenomena and their opposite such as the disappearance of body members from conscious perception with certain types of brain damage. Like the sensory homunculus, the motor homunculus looks distorted. For example the thumb which is used in thousands of complex activities appears much larger than the thigh with its relatively simple movement. The motor homunculus develops over time and differs from one person to the next. The hand in the brain of an infant is different to the hand in the brain of a concert pianist. This kind of difference is open to introspection. You can probably flex and extend the end of your thumb at will. Most people can do this fairly easily, but relatively few can make analogous movements with any of their other fingers. The difference is due to differences in the functional organization of associated areas of the brain.

The homunculus argument in philosophy of mind

A Homunculus argument accounts for a phenomenon in terms of the very phenomenon that it is supposed to explain (Richard Gregory (1987)). Homunculus arguments are always fallacious. In the psychology and philosophy of mind 'homunculus arguments' are extremely useful for detecting where theories of mind fail or are incomplete.

Homunculus arguments are common in the theory of vision. Imagine a person watching a movie. He sees the images as something separate from himself, projected on the screen. How is this done? A simple theory might propose that the light from the screen forms an image on the retinas in the eyes and something in the brain looks at these as if they are the screen. The Homunculus Argument shows this is not a full explanation because all that has been done is to place an entire person, or homunculus, behind the eye who gazes at the retinas. A more sophisticated argument might propose that the images on the retinas are transferred to the visual cortex where it is scanned. Again this cannot be a full explanation because all that has been done is to place a little person in the brain behind the cortex. In the theory of vision the Homunculus Argument invalidates theories that do not explain 'projection', the experience that the viewing point is separate from the things that are seen. (Adapted from Gregory (1987), (1990)).

A homunculus argument should be phrased in such a way that the conclusion is always that if a homunculus is required then the theory is wrong. After all, homunculi do not exist.

Very few people would propose that there actually is a little man in the brain looking at brain activity. However, this proposal has been used as a 'straw man' in theories of mind. Gilbert Ryle (1949) proposed that the human mind is known by its intelligent acts. (see Ryle's Regress). He argued that if there is an inner being inside the brain that could steer its own thoughts then this would lead to an absurd repetitive cycle or "regress" before a thought could occur:

"According to the legend, whenever an agent does anything intelligently, his act is preceded and steered by another internal act of considering a regulative proposition appropriate to his practical problem."

"... Must we then say that for the agent ... reflections how to act to be intelligent he must first reflect how best to reflect how to act? The endlessness of this implied regress shows that the application of the appropriateness does not entail the occurrence of a process of considering this criterion."

The homunculus argument and the regress argument are often considered to be the same but this is not the case. The homunculus argument says that if there is a need for a 'little man' to complete a theory then the theory is wrong. The regress argument says that an intelligent agent would need to think before it could have a thought.

If the homunculus argument is applied to the problem of the "intelligent agent" a subtly different result from the regress argument occurs. The homunculus argument applied to Ryle's theory would be phrased in terms of whether the mental attribute of 'reflecting upon things internally' can be explained by the theory that 'the mind is intelligent acts' without the appearance of a homunculus. The answer, provided by Ryle's own logic, is that internal reflection would require a homunculus to prevent it from becoming an infinite regress. Therefore with these assumptions the Homunculus Argument does not support the theory that mind is wholly due to intelligent acts.

The example of Ryle's theory demonstrates another aspect of the Homunculus Argument in which it is possible to attribute to the mind various properties such as 'internal reflection' that are not universally accepted and use these contentiously to declare that a theory of mind is invalid.

Early literary representations

The idea of the homunculus has proven to be fruitful inspiration. Homunculi can be found in centuries' worth of literature. These literary references have spawned references in modern times in film, animation, video and card games.

One of the very earliest literary references to the homunculus which also hints of its origination occurs in Thomas Browne's Religio Medici (1643) in which the author states-

I am not of Paracelsus minde that boldly delivers a receipt to make a man without conjunction...., (Part 1:36)

The alchemical connection also occurs in the German playwright Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's rendition of Faust, Part 2 which has that famed sorcerer create a homunculus, who then carries out extended conversations with his maker and Mephistopheles.

In his source study of Englishwoman Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, Prof. Radu Florescu notes that her father, William Godwin, and her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley were both quite familiar with the lives and works of alchemists like Paracelsus and others. Florescu also suggests that Konrad Dippel, an alchemist born in Castle Frankenstein whom he believes may have been the inspiration for Dr. Frankenstein, was a student of Dr. David Christianus.

In Laurence Sterne´s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Volume I, Chapter II , there is a reference to the homunculus: "(...) the animal spirits, whose business it was to have escorted and gone hand-in-hand with the homunculus, and conducted him safe to the place destined for his reception."

20th century literary representations

In the twentieth century Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, has several references to a homunculus, particularly detailed in a chapter dealing with druidic rites are performed at a party in the country estate (castle) of a wealthy Rosicrucian. After a series of sensually stimulating occult acts are played out for the small audience, several homunculi appear to be created, but the main character, Casaubon, cannot decide if they are wax or indeed authentic magic.

German horror writer Hanns Heinz Ewers used the mandrake method for creating a homunculus as the inspiration for his 1911 novel Alraune, in which a prostitute is impregnated with semen from a hanged murderer to create a woman devoid of morals or conscience. Several cinematic adaptations of Alraune have been made over the years, the most recent in 1952 with Erich von Stroheim. The 1995 film Species also appears to draw some inspiration from this variation on the homunculus legend.

In English novelist W. Somerset Maugham's 1908 work The Magician, Oliver Haddo, a character based on British occultist Aleister Crowley, is obsessed with the creation of homunculi.

In English novelist Peter Ackroyd's novel The House of Doctor Dee, John Dee, the Elizabethean mathematician, astrologer, philosopher and magus, attempts and succeeds in creating a homunculus.

American author David H. Kellner, M.D., wrote two pieces featuring homunculi. One was a short story, "A Twentieth-Century Homunculus," published in Amazing Stories in 1930, which describes the creation of homunculi on an industrial scale by a pair of misogynists. In the other, a novel called The Homunculus, published in 1949 by Prime Press of Philadelphia, retired Colonel Horatio Bumble creates such a being.

Also examining the misogynistic tendencies of the creators of homunculi, Swedish novelist Sven Delblanc lampoons both his homunculus' creator and the Cold War industrial-military complexes of the Soviet Union and NATO in his novel The Homunculus: A Magic Tale.

A homunculus called Twigleg is one of the main characters of the 1997 children novel Dragon Rider by German author Cornelia Funke. This homunculus is also artificial; he is created by combining artificial ingredients and a small living creature (probably a spider).

In Jane R Goodall's 2004 mystery novel "The Walkers" (Hodder Headline ISBN 0733618979), ancient secrets pertaining to the creation of the alchemical homunculus are central to a plot involving murders based on Hogarth's prints and set in "Swinging London". The creation of homunculi, together with the search for the philosopher's stone, was a central aim of alchemy. Implicit in the novel is the uneasy speculation that the original experiment succeeded and this evil being may indeed move through history.

Film and pop

The homunculus has also long been a popular theme in film, starting with the six-part 1916 German serial Homunculus.

In the classic horror film Bride of Frankenstein, Dr. Frankenstein's old teacher, Dr. Praetorius, shows him his own creations, a series of miniature humanoids kept in specimen jars, including a bishop, a king, a queen, a ballerina, a mermaid, and a devil. These are clearly intended to be homunculi, based on those creatures described by Emil Besetzny's Sphinx, as translated and presented in Franz Hartmann's Life of Paracelsus.

In the American film The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974), the homunculus is portrayed as a miniature winged gargoyle looking creature, who is the nemesis of Sinbad.

In various works of fantasy and science fiction, the term "homunculus" describes any man-made humans or humanoid creatures that are created via alchemy or magic.

In the popular manga and anime Fullmetal Alchemist, the main character Edward Elric battles supernatural enemies claiming to be homunculi. Each one of them bears a code name taken from the seven deadly sins: Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Wrath, Greed, Sloth, and Pride. In the anime, they are the products of failed attempts to resurrect humans who have died and raised into artificially created human beings. The idea of failed resurrection is explored more in the quote, "Either because of love, or out of foolish curiosity, human transmutation is attempted... and when these attempts all backfire, a different life is created... a being that has its own body and mind, but no soul... This is how the damned are born." In the manga, they were created by a powerful alchemist known as "The Father". Their method of creation has not been revealed in the manga, though it is stated that both Wrath, and later Greed, were made using the same way by dropping the Philosopher's Stone into their ear to be absorbed into their body (assuming their body does not reject the foreign sustance). It is unknown whether the rest of the homunculi were created the same way.

Another anime who made use of the homunculus concept is Cyberteam in Akihabara. The homunculus are the first line of attack of Jun Goutokuji (in her guise of Blood Falcon) when she confronts Hibari Hanakoganei in the first episode.

In the Game Boy Advance video game Rekka no Ken, the main villain Nergal uses henchmen of humanlike appearance but inhuman disposition and talent created by means of forbidden magic called morphs, whose means of creation resemble that of Homunculi.

The Homonculus is a monster in Nethack. In non-graphical versions, it appears as the symbol i (Imps and minor demons). The monster is low level, easy to defeat, and is classified as size tiny. If eaten, it (sometimes) grants the player an intrinsic poison resistance.

A homunculus named Roger figures greatly into some of the Hellboy comic books.
- In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, a wizard can create a homunculus as a type of familiar.

In the The Gathering card game, two creatures exist with "homunculus" in their name. Both are blue creatures, blue being the color of artificial creation and illusion, among other things.
- The homunculus appears in both the card game and animated series for Yu-Gi-Oh!. In the card game, there are two creatures, one named "Homunculus The Alchemic Being", and one named "Golden Homunculus". In the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime series, one professor is revealed to be a Homunculus of himself.

In the Enix console role-playing game Valkyrie Profile, the alchemist Lezard Valeth experiments with homonculi. Among them are his minion Bellion, and numerous female elven-like forms kept in large glass tubes.

In the avant-garde anime Serial Experiments Lain, the main character, a 14-year old-girl named Lain Iwakura, is referred to as a homunculus by Eiri Masami, a character that could be considered the series' villain, implying that she was artificially created, probably by Masami himself.

The Homunculus is a false body that can be inhabited by a willing mind in Sean Williams' book series The Books of the Cataclysm, once a soul has entered the homunculus it will morph to appear as that person, but is stronger and more durable than a normal human body.

In the MMORPG Ragnarok Online, a Homunculus is a creature that is created by Alchemist-class characters using various ingredients gathered from the fabled Yggdrasil Tree. Once raised by an Alchemist, the Homunculus follows and assists the player.

In the 2005 comedy film The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse a homunculus is created in a subplot called "The King's Evil." The chracter Geoff Tipps is reading the script of "The King's Evil" and asks, "What is a (sic) homunculus?" Later, after writing himself into the script, he is being interrogated, during which he is asked, "How do you know of the homunculus?" to which he responds in exasperation, "What IS a homunculus?"

In the manga Buso Renkin, a homunculus is an artificial life form that eats humans, created by the science of alchemy.

Other uses of the name "homunculus"

Hideo Yamamoto's manga Homunculus is about a successful, maverick insurance analyst whose world plunged into chaos after he underwent trepanation.
In the video game Shadow of Memories (also known as Shadow of Destiny), Homunculus is the name of an entity that obviously has a great understanding of space and time, and he seems to be helping the main character in the game to escape his death. He seems to be a real homunculus, as his roots seem to be in the age of the alchemists. Very little is known about his past. However, he dresses dark and so are his intentions seemingly.
In the Nintendo DS game Dawn of Sorrow, a Homonculus is portrayed as an aquatic, human-like creature with a greyish-greenish body and a purple face, and is attached to a pink umbilical cord. It is located in a laboratory-themed area, possibly connecting it to the artificial human theme. It attacks by flailing its arms around violently, and can be destroyed by attacking it after it shows its face. It can also be destroyed if you let it come after you and leave the screen (at this point the cord should break and it should eventually drown.) The power gained from its soul allows the player to throw a little Homonculus (based on the actual origins of the term, possibly) that damages enemies.
In the computer game Diablo II (specifically the expansion pack Lord of Destruction), a Homunculus is a unique shield used by the Necromancer class of characters. It resembles a shrunken head and bears the title "Hierophant Trophy", but no direct information concerning the relation of Homunculus the shield to the literal meaning of Homunculus is given.
In the MMORPG Computer game Lineage II, The Homunculus is a unique mystics sword used commonly by Mages in the game, later in the game, Large, One Eyed monsters High level monsters named Homunculus, and given Monster Ranks.
In The Talons of Weng-Chiang, a 1977 serial from the British television series Doctor Who, the Peking Homunculus is the proper name given to an animated ventriloquist's dummy known as Mr. Sin. The dummy was really an android from the future, with the cerebral cortex of a pig.
In the Sam Keith comic book The Maxx, the small white and blue creatures called Isz (iz in the singular) are referred to as Homunculi by the villain Mr. Gone.
In the manga Buso Renkin, a homunculus is an artificial life form that eats humans, created by the science of alchemy.
In the film Manhattan, Woody Allen refers to his girlfriend's former lover as a homunculus.
The MMORPG Ragnarok Online has recently adapted to a homunculus system for the Alchemist class in which a pet like homunculus is created using a skill earned through a quest. The homunculus then follows the user around like a pet, but has stats, skills, and will you help you in combat.

References

Florescu, Radu (1975) In Search of Frankenstein New York: Warner Books.
Gregory, R.L. (1990) Eye and Brain: The Psychology of Seeing. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.
Gregory, T.L. (1987) The Oxford Companion to Mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Maconius, S. (1980) Lore of the Homunculus. N.p.: Red Lion Publications.
Ryle, G. (1949) The Concept of Mind. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1949.
Waite, A. E., editor. (1967) The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus the Great. New Hyde Park, NY: University Books: two volumes.

External links

Macula's (Homunculus)

Alchemy | Philosophy of mind

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