The Map Collector

I don’t speak Ancient Greek, but my favorite word out of the four or five I know is “banausos.” It’s a pejorative for manual laborer, craftsman, one who plies a trade, though that misses the heart of the meaning. It might be more accurate to use the word only at the beginning of the definition. Only a potter. Only a stonemason. Plato used it in contrast to the philosopher, who had many virtues, the system of which made up a philosophical life. If a philosopher was a generalist, a jack of all trades, a banausos was uber-specialized in one field at the expense of his soul. A famous contemporary example would be Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Master of the craft of boxing, but borderline illiterate with no other redeemable qualities as a human being outside of being able to put on a technically perfect boxing match. (Most banausoi—my best guess at the plural form—don’t get to be rich and famous.)