Here is a follow on post to an earlier one Homo faber
What makes us human – what is the one thing?
Humans are creators: Homo faber.
Yes, we are wise hence our scientific name is Homo sapiens. More difinitive is our production & creativity. We can’t live without our clothes, shelter, cooked food and the tools we use to make them.
I’m excited by this concept of Homo faber. If you know me or this blog, you will know I have two major modernist world views that impact me: Marxism and psychodrama (developed by J.L. Moreno). Homo faber is where they meet! As I said in the earlier post:
The concept, though not the term, is central to Marx and Moreno – and shows how related these two are! The history of humanity is the history of class struggle. And class struggle is about our relationships around our creativity, our production. And for Moreno, it is our creativity that is central, esp creating newness out of nothing, spontaneity.
We are incomplete. We don’t own or control our tools. We need to transform the relationships of production. That the Marxist imperative. Transforming relationships and creativity is the domain of psychodrama.
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Bringing these two world views together not just with the unifying concept of Homo faber but with a praxis to match. That is the challenge.