Revisiting the Dimensions of the Dwelling Space: An Oikological Study between Phenomenology and Psychoanalysis

Abstract

This investigation can be framed within the field of study known as philosophical oikology. In particular, this essay deals with three essential concepts that define the ontology of dwelling space: “home,” “strangeness” and an ambivalent space “in-between.” The argument is structured as follows: Firstly, I discuss the opposition between “place” and “space”. Secondly, I present the main aspects of the Husserlian distinction between “home-world” and “alien-world” in order to show how horizons reveal a dimension of dwelling space that cannot be identified with place. Then I set out Heidegger’s appraisal of the distinction between home and strangeness, both in his later work and in Sein und Zeit. Following on from that, I discuss the identification between dwelling and being-at-home, after which I attempt to outline the ambiguous space between home and strangeness on the basis of the contributions made by Freud’s analysis of the uncanny (Unheimlich), Winnicott’s concept of “transitional space” and H.R. Sepp’s oikological philosophy.