09 Nov philosophical writing
In the Introduction and first two chapters of Human Nature and Conduct Dewey focuses on habit as a central concept in his moral philosophy. However, the understanding of habit Dewey presents is considerably different from what we typically mean when we use that word. For example, we tend to think of habits as being compulsive repetitive physical acts, such as biting one’s fingernails or obsessively checking social media. This is not what Dewey has in mind when he refers to habit. Citing specific passages from the text, explain 1) how Dewey understands habit, and 2) at least one advantage that grounding our moral framework in this view of habit offers over a traditional approach to morality that focuses exclusively on individual inner capacities, like will or autonomy.
