ABSTRACT
Another ancient Greek story illustrates the dark side of the home mode of comprehension. Procrustes lived on a pilgrimage route and offered travelling strangers hospitality for the night. But then he forced the visitors to fit in their guest beds, putting them on the rack if they were too short or cutting their feet off if they were too tall. He had two beds, one very short, and one very long, so he killed all his guests. He dramatizes errors we make in the home mode. First is the apparently reasonable assumption, “If you are in my home, you must follow my rules.” However, this leaves out a crucial clause, “but you are free to leave at any time.” He confuses “home” with “own” and “domestic” with “dominate.” Home rules are binding only on those who agree with them – by staying. The logic of entering a home and following its rules provide a metaphor for absolute or necessary truths – statements which are true, independent of the world.
