Concept

Face

Overview

The face is the front of the head in humans and many other animals that features most of the sense organs including the eyes, nose and mouth. Many animals may express emotions through their face. Sense organs in the faces of different animals are varied such as the snout, and the proboscis. Many animals are flat-faced (brachycephalic) such as the pug dog.

The human face is crucial for identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may adversely affect the psyche.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

In the original texts

Passages from public-domain books where Face is discussed.

It is well known that there are men whose face is like that of other animals; thus the face of some person is like that of a lion, that of another person like that of an ox, and so on; and man’s face is described according as the form of his face resembles the form of the face of other animals. By the expressions, “the face of an ox,” “the face of a lion,” “the face of an eagle” (Ezek, i. 10), the prophet describes…
Moses Maimonides, The guide for the perplexed
names the idea; states what it is; opens on it
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Of all parts of the body, the face is most considered and regarded, as is natural from its being the chief seat of expression and the source of the voice. It is also the chief seat of beauty and of ugliness, and throughout the world is the most ornamented.[1326] The face, therefore, will have been subjected during many generations to much closer and more earnest…
Charles Darwin, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals
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A second point is that, when we recognize something, it was not in fact the very same thing, but only something similar, that we experienced on a former occasion. Suppose the object in question is a friend's face. A person's face is always changing, and is not exactly the same on any two occasions. Common sense treats it as one face with varying expressions; but the varying expressions actually exist, each at its…
Bertrand Russell, The Analysis of Mind
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1. The part immediately beneath the cranium is called the face in mankind alone, for we do not speak of the face of a fish or of an ox; the part immediately beneath the sinciput and between the eyes is called the forehead. Those in whom this feature is large are tardy; those who have a small forehead are easily excited; a broad forehead belongs to those who are liable to be carried away by their feelings; a round…
Aristotle, Aristotle's History of Animals In Ten Books
states what it is; names the idea; opens on it
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Man is the only creature that has a face, the other animals having only a muzzle or a beak. Other animals have a forehead as well, but it is only on the forehead of man that is depicted sorrow, gladness, compassion, or severity. It is the forehead that is the index of the mind. Man has eyebrows, also, which move together or alternately; these, too, serve in some measure as indications of the feelings.
the Elder Pliny, The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 3
a chapter is titled for it; opens on it; names the idea
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Related ideas

Place in the tradition

Part of Face-to-face (philosophy).

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