Jeremy Bentham!

I was very excited when (quite some time ago) Jeremy Bentham came up in lecture. I still remember learning about Bentham's "auto-icon" in the very first class I took at UVic, Philosophy 100, and being absolutely delighted. I'm not sure why, I just thought Bentham's wish to have his skeleton dressed up and displayed with his preserved head was hilarious. In case you don't know about Jeremy Bentham and how he related to this class, he was a philosopher of law (who had some pretty good ideas for the early 1800s,  I might add) who wrote into his will that his body should be used for educational purposes, and then his skeleton and head preserved and dressed up to be displayed at the University College London. There have even been a couple instances where Bentham's auto-icon was brought out to be present at milestone college council meetings (he was "present, but not voting").

Bentham's head has had to be replaced by a wax replica due to the degradation of the original. Additionally, said head has been the subject of student pranks and thefts (which I'm sure Mr. Bentham would have found amusing). The auto-icon is now kept locked in a display case.

I think that perhaps one of the main reasons why I appreciate/giggle at Jeremy Bentham's auto-icon so much is because (in my twisted mind anyway) it pokes fun at two things that I think people take much too seriously: death and the institution of higher education. Additionally, I think it's interesting that Bentham chose to have his remains put out there for everyone to see when it seems to be more common for people to want their remains to be hidden away.