Abstract
Lian Chang
School of Architecture
McGill University
De-articulation of the body, articulation of order
Inherent to the duality of "public vs. private" is that of interior and exterior, a relationship dramatically orchestrating the sacrificial division of meat or thusia. This paper examines the role in thusia of the liver, described by Aristotle in Parts of Animals as the joint connecting the blood, considered the body's interior substance, with the exterior parts. Removal of the liver and hepatoscopy brought the insides out into the light of day, marking the point at which the animal body, its life freshly given to the gods, lost its cohesive structure and became pieces of meat with the capacity, in turn, to provide order and cohesiveness to the human public realm. The liver articulates between inner and outer, between divine intention and human piety, between life and death; here it is in the transit, not between private and public but between interior and exterior, that the common order is found.
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