Abstract

“Oikos” is the Greek word for “house.” This chapter tries to outline how “house” has been understood from biblical times to the present age, separating the view on the house from the outside and from within. From the outside, it is mostly seen as a safe haven, a place which one desires to reach; from within it is often felt as a place of tribulation and sometimes even of crime. These views have essentially not changed until now. What has changed is the position of the head of the household and the outer borders of what is, in a broader sense, seen as one’s “house”: So, in a way, we are at home, when we speak by phone from another continent with our family. In the global age, the idea of a world-oikos has forced itself on our minds. While, concerning this world-oikos, collective reason cannot simply be summoned, it seems that, at least for some time, a head of the world-oikos, e.g., a world-parliament, seems to be required.