Defining Home: Developing Ethical Theory Through a Relational Perspective

Abstract

The question I seek to answer in this work is whether a person has a moral obligation toward one's home. I answer this question by looking at the relationship between a person and one's home. I define home as a place to which a person has a particular and unique attachment. I explain what I mean by place using Jeff Malpas' and David Seamon's work on phenomenological geography. In my first chapter, I explain my methodology, which is inspired by Alastair MacIntyre's After Virtue. I offer an introduction to the philosophy of the home by looking at architectural definitions of home as the starting point for exploring this topic. In my second chapter, I analyse the relationship between persons and their physical surroundings and argue against the notion of an atomized individual, showing that one's physical surroundings are integral to one's very being. I also offer a philosophical definition of home. In my third and final chapter, I explain the obligations one has towards one's home and propose the application of care ethics as a way of understanding these obligations.