homo fallibilis

Andrew Brown (2002) Figure. Inks and charcoal on paper.

The epithet Homo fallibilis acknowledges that we are both capable and fallible.

One way of viewing mankind is nature becoming aware of itself. We are highly evolved, contingent arrangements of biomolecules dwelling in a remote corner of an immense, interconnected universe which, in the fullness of time, have become self-aware.

There is a certain grandeur in this Darwinian view of Homo sapiens; but we are almost certainly not the only sentient beings in the universe.

And lest we forget our built in primate limitations, our propensity for getting things wrong, our escalating befoulment of the planet and our bloody, awful history.

Why and how do we err? What are some of the deep-rooted vanities and false idols that beset the human mind?

Can reason alone reduce folly and prevent tragedy? In what ways can language and logic fail us?

Do the gains the associated with technological innovations outweigh their unintended consequences?

Andrew Brown (2003) Figure. Oil pastel and charcoal on paper.

SOURCES FOR BETWIXT BEAST AND ANGEL

AUGUSTINE [354-430]

Philosopher who merged Neoplatonism with Christianity. Augustine was born in what is now Algeria but worked mostly in Milan and Carthage.

“But humanity, in reality, is poised midway between gods and beasts, and inclines now to the one order, now to the other; some men grow like to the divine, others to the brute, the greater number stand neutral. But those that are corrupted to the point of approximating to irrational animals and wild beasts pull the mid-folk about and inflict wrong upon them…”

The Fifth Ennead by Plotinus [250]

PLOTINUS [205-270]

Roman philosopher, born in Egypt, who was the father of Neoplatonism.

ALEXANDER POPE

English Poet (1688-1744)

“Man is an intermediate being, but intermediate between beasts and angels. A beast is irrational and mortal, while an angel is rational and immortal. Man is intermediate, inferior to the angels, and superior to the beasts…”

City of God by Saint Augustine of Hippo, Book IX, Chapter 13 [410]

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan,
The proper study of mankind is man.
Plac’d on this isthmus of a middle state,
A being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the Stoic’s pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a God, or beast;
In doubt his mind or body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas’ning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reason such,
Whether he thinks too little or too much:
Chaos of thought and passion, all confus’d;
Still by himself abus’d or disabus’d;
Created half to rise, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl’d:
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!

Alexander Pope: Essay on Man. First stanza of EPISTLE II (1732):
Of the Nature and State of Man: With Respect to Himself, as an Individual.