Thinking from the Home: Emanuele Coccia on Domesticity and Happiness

Abstract

This article traces the idea of domesticity through the work of Emanuele Coccia to explain his conception of happiness. Coccia argues that it is only by taking domestic concerns seriously that philosophy can begin to theorize the possibility of happiness today, claiming that rather than beginning with the polis, “philosophy must think the city from the home, and the home from the kitchen.” The article begins by situating Coccia's work in the tradition of Giorgio Agamben's critical project and then explores the idea of the home from his 2016’s The Life of Plants through 2020’s Metamorphoses to understand the reason for devoting an entire book to the topic in 2021’s Philosophy of the Home. The final sections of this article turn to Philosophy of the Home itself to explain his conception of happiness more concretely, focusing on his conceptions of love and interdependency, as well as the fundamental importance of nourishment and the kitchen.

Keywords

• domesticity
• nourishment
• plants
• dwelling
• cooking
• food
• economy
• oikeiosis
• subjectivity
• oikonomia