Homo faber
Homo faber (Latin for "Man the Maker" in reference to homo sapiens meaning "wise man") is a philosophical concept articulated by Hannah Arendt and Max Scheler that refers to humans as controlling the environment through tools. Henri Bergson also referred to the concept in Creative Evolution (1907), defining intelligence, in its original sense, as the "faculty to create artificial objects, in particular tools to make tools, and to indefinitely variate its makings."
In Latin literature, Appius Claudius Caecus uses this term in his Sententiæ, referring to the ability of man to control his destiny and what surrounds him: Homo faber suae quisque fortunae (Every man is the artifex of his destiny).
In older anthropology theories, Homo faber, as the "working man", is confronted with Homo ludens, the "playing man", who is concerned with amusements, humor, and leisure.
Homo faber can be also used in opposition or juxtaposition to deus faber ("God the Creator"), an archetype of which are the various gods of the forge.
Homo faber is used by Pierre Schaeffer in the Traité des objects Musicaux as the man creator of music, which uses its brute experience, an instinctive practice in music creation; Concluding that the Homo faber aways precedes the Homo sapiens in the process of creation.
Homo Faber is the title of an influential novel by the Swiss author Max Frisch, published in 1957. The book was made into the film Voyager, starring Sam Shepard and Julie Delpy.
Homo Faber was one of the five IBMYP areas of interaction, before it was replaced with "Human Ingenuity".
The concept of Homo faber is referenced in Umberto Eco "Open Work": he refutes its negative connotation and instead argues that Homo faber is a manifestation of man's innate being in nature. Use of Homo faber in this negative light is argued by Eco to represent the alienation from and objectification of nature.
"Homo Faber" is also the title of a short poem by Frank Bidart that is included in his collection Desire (1997).
See also
- List of alternative names for the human species