Paper short abstract:

To what extent should an ethics of the present judge the past and in what ways do historical practices inform our contemporary ethical concerns? If ethics involves articulating our broader responsibilities, then how do body-collecting practices in the 19th century inform current donation debates?

Paper long abstract:

To what extent should an ethics of the present judge the past? In what ways do historical practices inform our contemporary ethical concerns? This paper seeks to address these questions in the following way: Anatomy, at the University of Edinburgh, is home to an extensive collection of body parts and artefacts that speak to its rich history both for acquiring objects and remains - at home and abroad - but also as a centre for body donation. Within its collections there are numerous skulls, gathered from across the globe between the 18th and mid 20th century, and housed in a purpose-built room within the Anatomy department. The skulls were collected for the purpose of contributing to the then ongoing scientific debates in phrenology and comparative anatomy, and were acquired through the personal and professional relationships between Edinburgh-trained colonial medical officers and the University's anatomists. Starting with the skull room itself, its architectural and classificatory aesthetic, which was built in the 19th century specifically to store and study the skulls, we trace how Edinburgh's current donation policy has been molded through its particular history, from the skulls to more recent repatriation exchanges. If the history of ethics involves the shifting boundaries around how we define our responsibilities (legal and other), then how have these historical trajectories informed current donation practices?