auto-icon

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July 23, 2026

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An "auto-icon" is a concept and practice advocated by Jeremy Bentham, the founder of modern utilitarianism. Bentham's will stipulated that after his death and dissection for medical science, his skeleton and mummified head should be dressed in his clothes and posed in his chair. This "auto-icon" was intended to serve as a lasting representation of the person, reducing the need for traditional monuments and diminishing the "horrors of death" by associating it with scientific advancement and remembrance.1

Bentham's own auto-icon, housed at University College London, consists of his skeleton and a wax replica of his head, dressed and seated. His actual mummified head is now stored separately at UCL's Institute of Archaeology. The term "icon" itself refers to a widely admired person or thing, a symbol, or a graphic representation on a computer screen.23

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What Is Jeremy Bentham’s “Auto-Icon”?
…one’s own icon (thus “auto-icon”) in the manner he envisaged for himself: dissection followed by the display of a near-replica of the original person, constructed out of a skeleton, stuffing such as hay, and a mummified head. The dissection, he argued, would advance scientific knowledge and greatly facilitate medical…
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…one’s own icon (thus “auto-icon”) in the manner he envisaged for himself: dissection followed by the display of a near-replica of the original person, constructed out of a skeleton, stuffing such as hay, and a mummified head. The dissection, he argued, would advance scientific knowledge and greatly facilitate medical…
Read More