Homo docens

Abstract

The names we use for our own species represent general attitudes, many of which were adumbrated by the Greeks. Linnaeus called us Homo sapiens, or thinking man, and his image may be represented by Athene, the goddess of wisdom and my favourite deity. Equally justified is Homo faber, man the maker, represented by Vulcan or Hephaistos. Another aspect of man has been given confusing prominence recently; for man the warrior I have had to invent a name, Homo pugnax—Mars or Ares. Homo ludens has also been proposed (Huizinga, 1970); his counterpart was perhaps Hermes.