Patrik Aspers & Brian Epstein: What Makes a House a Home?

ST. GALLEN, SWITZERLAND: was the R&B singer Luther Vandross a sociologist? In his famous ballad, A House is Not a Home, he argues “a chair is still a chair, even when there’s no one sittin’ there [but] a house is not a home when there’s no one there to hold you tight”. Yes, Luther, the sociologist, just introduced us to ontology, or, the study of “what there is”. Today, ontology is making waves in the field of sociology and the world’s foremost economic sociologist, Patrik Aspers (University of St. Gallen), and metaphysics philosopher, Brian Epstein (Tufts University), join us to answer the question: what really makes a house a home? Come welcome Patrik and Brian to our show!