Source: https://www.scribd.com/document/311107591/Magri-Elisa-The-Place-of-Habit-in-Hegel-s-Psychology-in-Hegel-s-Philosophical-Psychology-edited-by-S-Hermann-Sinai-and-L-Ziglioli-Routledge-2016
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 07:16:06+00:00

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to develop on their own account without further concerning itself with them.
perform actions both against human nature and human interests.
as I shall argue. In contrast to Hume. What is remarkable in Hegel’s account is that neither habit nor memory can replace conscious agency and choice. As Menke (2013) has observed. Thus. In fact. More precisely. but also within the Psychology. rely on the same process. how do we liberate ourselves from them? How is it possible to correct a behaviour that has been incorporated and sedimented in our own style? Are we doomed to the passive force of habituality. whereas memory also includes apprehension and learning. which commits us to acquire a new habit in order to replace another one. to acknowledge the role of habit in Hegel’s Psychology leads us to question the limit and the relevance of habituality in relation to the overall structure of theoretical spirit. which is subjected to the manifold of experience as well as to physical constraints. Yet. habit and memory explain why adaptation and learning do not rely on an entirely passive mechanism. including memory itself. 121). To be sure. they share a fundamental feature. memory is the intellectual power that transforms intuitions into linguistic signs. The exercise of memory consists of preserving the order and position of former impressions.psychological nature of habit and its influence over subjectivity. thereby enabling thinking. contrary to Hume. Hegel holds that habit is a refinement of the natural self. the capacity to incorporate gestures and meanings. the explorations of habit and memory lead to the appraisal of thought for the realisation of a specific sort of freedom. For Hume. In this regard. Hegel’s argument implies that habituality may be viewed as a schematic function enabling the self to give herself a style as well as to think. which establishes the basic and originary self-reference of subjectivity. not only in the Anthropology. While habit is the gestural power that establishes a style over the undetermined multiplicity of sensations and feelings. Like Hume in An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding. Does habituality commit the subject to the automatic acquisition of bodily habits through somatic sedimentation? In what sense are habit and memory not entirely passive? I believe that an understanding of Hegel’s conception of habituality may provide an original insight that sets specific limits to the extent and influence of habit in relation to subjectivity. Hence. habit is a critical concept that denotes the possibility of spirit self-contradiction. Once habits have been acquired. 2 . he does not admit any distinction between habit and memory that depends on the constant conjunction of past instances in the mind. 36) is acquired by the living body. habit explains how a ‘praxis of ontological transformation’ (Menke 2013. habit arises from the frequent conjunction of objects. i.e. Nevertheless. thereby grounding the knowledge of every matter of fact. but rather entail a fundamental self-acquaintance that is reactivated and empowered by means of habituality. habit encompasses a variety of shapes that mark different stages of the Bildung of subjectivity.e. habit plays a significant role in Hegel’s Philosophy of Subjectivity Spirit. Hegel conceives of habit as a propensity to renew the same act or operation without being impelled by any reasoning or process of the understanding (Hume 1999. Hegel distinguishes between habituality as the second nature of the embodied self and a more sophisticated form of habituality that is active as memory. although specifically different. it is in virtue of habitual processes that subjectivity effectively develops the capacity to think and to set itself free as a thinking subject. for these imply the moral capacity to choose as conscious agents. habit and memory. i. habit is not responsible for the practical endorsement of beliefs and practices. the freedom of thought as such. Yet. From a Hegelian perspective. or does Hegel offer us an alternative? To be sure.
The division into Anthropology. A threefold development (natural. to the extent that the soul is the middle point. Hegel warns against the risk of tracing superficial separations. 423b 29).e. the analogy between soul and circle allows for a twofold perspective on the soul. thereby reminding the reader of the Platonic conception of the soul. the soul is conceived of as being immersed in nature. Hegel’s analysis of sensation is strongly influenced by Aristotle’s De Anima (Wolff 1992. Hegel’s analysis may be said to be genetic. which gradually develops the distinction between inward and outward.. Sensations are. On 3 . until the 1817 Encyclopaedia Hegel did not develop a philosophical anthropology. which in turn represent. feeling and actual soul) marks the transition from natural immediacy towards consciousness. which passes through an alteration when affected by something external. ‘the procedure gives rise to the anticipation of a content which only presents itself later in the development’ (EPM §380). When the first edition of the Encyclopaedia was published. the Hegelian soul is a principle that is embodied in every animate being. From this point of view. From the very beginning. which is conceived both as genus and as the particularising of individual existence. As such. forms of being affected (De Anima II 11. ‘alterations in the substantiality of the soul’ (EPM §402). Yet.4 At the same time. The opposition between the circle and straight line reflects the contrast between the genus and the individual. nor genuine subject’ (JS 147) due to its lack of determinateness. to that extent the periphery is opposed to it and on its own account’ (JS 147). the very treatment of Anthropology represents the basis of the entire philosophy of subjective spirit. and its peripheral movement. nor should the progression from Anthropology to Psychology be considered as a ladder. which is extended indefinitely as a straight line. Hegel describes the soul as an entirely natural entity. for Hegel. since he carefully acknowledges the different layers that compound the specific intentionality of the soul. Phenomenology and Psychology is notably a Hegelian thematic partition. ‘The soul’ – Hegel writes – ‘is the whole circle. which provides the overall and complex development of the concept of spirit (Geist). the threefold division should not be taken an implication of a separation among the different determinations of subjectivity. but as the permanent ground wherein the subsequent development of spirit takes place. Indeed.5 Sensation marks the first relevant step in this process in a quite Aristotelian fashion. anthropology was identified with the investigation of the soul. The whole circle represents the soul’s efforts to reproduce itself as genus. i. 262 ff). Even by the Jena lectures on logic and metaphysics the soul was already defined as ‘neither genuine substance. it is not something that should be left aside once the shift to the following step has occurred. which is at one and the same time connected with the soul as middle point. emerging from nature towards the practical determination of freedom. Sensitivity stands for a naturally sense-informed receptivity. as he occupied himself mainly with phenomenology and psychology. The peripheral movement of the circle. Ferrarin 2001. As scholars have widely and attentively recognised. stands for the infinite progression of individual life generated through a continuous and indefinite movement forward.Habit as Second Nature Hegel was highly concerned with philosophical anthropology and psychology dating back to his early studies in Tübingen (Hoffmeister 1936). On the contrary. for ‘what is higher already shows itself to be empirically present in a lower and more abstract determination’ (EPM §380). In addition. Hence. properly speaking. and extended indefinitely as a straight line – extended indefinitely because. In the sections of the Encyclopaedia dealing with Anthropology Hegel provides a substantial revision of the originary notion of the soul. the soul is conceived of as an undifferentiated unity whose dialectics with the world displays the coming to be of the genus.
sensation and feeling represent different layers of a unitary process underlying originary self-acquaintance. so that ‘they are no longer before us as singularities. but it also refers to the overall experience of the lived body. Hegel’s Anthropology involves a prior form of self-acquaintance that shares significant similarities with Merleau-Ponty’s view. for instance. The embodied soul is not conceived of as an object of empirical observation. To be sure. it is worth noticing that Hegel conceives of sensation in light of a process of embodiment or Verleiblichung (EPM §401 Z). in our ordinary experience. then. standing in external interaction with the outer world. Since anthropology describes an embodiment process. To be aware of sensations means to feel them. By embodiment Hegel seems to suggest an intertwining between emotions and bodiliness such that each sensation is perceived as affecting not simply the physical body (Körper). On the contrary. we are not aware of the sensation of the light that meets our retina. Although our eyes meet the sun’s daylight. Yet. As Pinkard (2012) has noticed.9 Sanity is not necessarily opposed to madness. turning them into something that is unconsciously posited by the soul. as they do not stem from any conscious deliberation.the one hand. By means of habit we regularly perform a set of skills that are embedded in our body. and writing. sensation implies the internalisation of the physical modifications of the sense organs. As Hegel notices (EPM §402 R). Such engendering of habit is a practice (Übung). What Hegel outlines through the analysis of sensation and feeling is an account of self-awakeness that precedes the very distinction between subject and object. This aspect can be further elucidated by looking at the difference between sensation (Empfindung) and emotional feeling (Gefühl). For this reason. Examples of habit include standing upright. on the other hand. Hegel holds that being aware of one’s own feelings is something that can be trained. habit is the ‘determinacy of feeling’ and the ‘mechanism of self-feeling’ (EPM §410 R). but rather it calls for a proper cultivation of mind. for it consists in the repetition of gestures and activities that gradually reduce the apparent externality of feelings and desires. laughing. it ‘infects them with its universality’ [sie so sehr mit seiner Allgemeinheit angesteckt]. walking. but rather from the inside of the subjective and animal awareness (Pinkard 2012. such modifications are experienced as the sedimentation of information provided by sense contents. the feeling soul should not be taken as identical to self-consciousness.7 Embodiment includes expressive phenomena such as voice. To put it differently. all the achievements provided by habit are involuntary. feeling is the place where Hegel discusses different forms of derangement. 10 Once the soul learns to master all these functions. but in a ‘contradiction of reason’ (EPM §408 R). Not by chance. either in respect of intelligence or of the will. habit enables the embodied soul to learn a practice that makes its natural mode of existence a routine. derangement does not consist in a loss of reason.8 Importantly. but rather the totality of the lived body (Leib). i. as long as the self remains engrossed in a particular feeling. we have sensations without being aware of them. is it possible for the soul to detach from feelings without employing any conscious will? Hegel describes acquired habits as dispositions that broaden the spectrum of subjective capacities. as it happens when someone takes her subjective states to be objective (EPM §408 Z). all activities that entail learning single practices and then forgetting how they have been unified and memorised. We do not need to recall how we have learnt to play the violin in order to play the instrument. For Hegel. weeping. What strikes the reader is precisely the relevance Hegel assigns to rational training. it is subject to disease. 4 . and we are aware only of their universal aspect’ (EPM §410 R).e. 26).11 Consider. The problem here is that.6 At the same time. the natural development of the self is a process of continuous adaptation to externality in accordance to one’s own rules. How.
is not a universal of reflection. | a universality. Thus. More precisely. In this sense. since they have become abilities. thereby determining the kind of self one is. ‘habituation clearly belongs to spirit rather than to nature’. By contrast. gestures and expressions become habitual not in virtue of the conscious effort of the self to give oneself a style. However. for the purpose of this paper. on the one hand. for it enables the self to have a world and to experience it. In this sense. This is the reason why Hegel stresses that in habit we are interested in the matter-in-hand and yet we are indifferent to it. but only as result of the passive repetition. Hegel regards. we no longer concentrate on these details. A common way to put this is to say that habit is located at the boundary between nature and spirit. habit cannot be identified with either spontaneity or sheer receptivity. the species. Hegel conceives of reflection as the one-sided operation that establishes relations among particulars according to external features. we do not reflect upon it. According to McCumber (1990. As such. it is important to notice that reflection is not the cogitation of mind.e. A wide range of bodily activities. From this point of view. the universality of habit falls under the category of reflection. since it includes many particulars in itself.e. but we passively absorb it. a universal related to the many (the higher universality. The habit to write refines and transforms itself into a rule the particularities inherent in the learning process. When we learn to write. The structure of habituation is intrinsic to the embodiment process. trains our bodily dispositions and transforms them into self-posited and self-driven activities. As long as the soul is constrained by its particular feelings. by following habits. i. e. Hegelian habit is a relatively simple disposition to repeat an activity without the awareness of doing so. habit is only indirectly committed to the Übergang from nature to spirit. As such. it is by gradually incorporating many different abilities that we improve in the practice of learning other related skills.12 The difference between the universality of reflection and the higher universality of the species is a difficult passage that can be properly discussed only in light of the Science of Logic. which. it is rather simple relation to itself)’. but it is the way in which human beings can be at home with nature’. but only the immediate act of positing a property through abstraction. Following Lumsden. For Lumsden habit is not a break with nature. Lumsden (2013: 134) has argued that ‘habit does not mark the ascent into an exclusively spiritual domain. because lower functions are understood in terms of higher spiritual activity.the case of writing addressed by Hegel himself (EPM §410 R). On the other hand. the ambiguous character of habit stems from the fact that the relation between universality and particularity is obtained by means of abstraction. Still. for it implies that a general rule is established by abstracting from the involvement of the self. Hegel stresses the ambivalent function of habit. But. i. for instance. 159). once the habit of writing has been ingrained in ourselves. Likewise. features that are independent from the essence of the relation itself. habit is the only means that provides a reference to the soul for the unitary centre of all physiological movements and affections. one can say that habit overcomes the dualism between spontaneity and receptivity. the soul falls prey to mindless mechanisms that do not require any active awareness. we must pay attention to every single detail. reading.g. In order to acquire a habit. This is because the predicate does not express the essential connection between ‘being human’ and ‘being mortal’. such as our tension or uncertainty in holding the pen or in drawing a sign. the judgment ‘Man is mortal’ as a judgment of reflection. such universality obtains between extrinsic determinations. since it provides the 5 . including how to hold the pen in our hands and how to draw signs on the paper. generality. we acquire a mastery over the manifold of bodily capacities without being conscious at each stage of the rule that we are following. In the Berlin lectures 1827-28 Hegel draws attention to the fact that ‘habit is a universality of reflection.
It is precisely because the integration of skills and bodily capacities is assigned to habit. i. there is no dualism between nature and spirit from the very outset of Anthropology. To be sure. it has not developed the capacity to take itself as object. rational and able to command’ (EPM §435 A).e. a body-memory. ‘Hegel’s account of habit and the emergence of the actual soul suggest that a subjectivity that is engaged in the natural world that it can cognize is a subjectivity that preserves within it a receptivity that is not itself conceptually informed’ (Forman 2010: 151). to an operation not reducible to the conscious observing of any rules. ‘no one will be free. a habitual pattern enables the activity of work in the master-slave relationship. Hegel is primarily interested in exploring how subjectivity attains its basic form of self-reference. However. the role of work is precisely that of governing desire and making consciousness used to the interaction with the outer world. which comprises the 6 . i. habit schematises bodily intentionality in a way that is analogous to that of work and memory within the Phenomenology and Psychology respectively. the discipline acquired by the slave through labour is of the utmost importance. but it is not a transition from being merely natural to being cognitively accountable. In this sense. that the embodiment process replaces the opposition between spontaneity and receptivity. there is a difference between the subjective embodiment of rationality. the concept (Begriff) that is for itself and that has itself as its object (EPM §382 Z). i. In this regard. the discipline of the servant represents only the beginning of freedom. Yet. Conceived in terms of consciousness. one must enter the field of the Psychology. for this cannot rely on passive obedience. the Phenomenology transforms the original entanglement between soul and world into an opposition. As is well known. Accordingly. but a mechanism that enables the Bildung of the self. As such.primitive actualisation of the concept of Geist. Hence. by means of which a set of abilities is incorporated into an individual. while establishing a fundamental and basic form of unconscious self-reference. as entailed by logic. One can say that habit. habit concerns how beliefs belong to the self. and the capacity to provide an account of it. has become a learned process for voluntary actions in the Phenomenology. by logical thinking. In order to elucidate how habit influences the development of thought.e. it follows that even the dichotomy between sensibility and spontaneity does no longer subsist. Here. the self is driven by desire and stands in opposition to the sensed object. In this sense. a refined version of habit marks the liberation of consciousness from the clash with the other. far from being reduced to the motility of the nerve system. Importantly. thereby providing a kind of knowing-how that is crucially different from the knowing-that and knowing-why offered. Hegel is not so much concerned in the Anthropology with the ontological transition from nature to spirit as with the processes that develop spirit’s self-knowledge. In other words. Hegel emphasizes that without having experienced the breaking of his own will through discipline. but rather by the fact that it does not know itself. Within the Anthropology. habit is not simply a set of mindless repetitions. for instance.e. For Hegel.13 The ‘liberation from the sensations’ refers to the gradual constitution of a pattern or modular activity. as presented in the Anthropology. In fact. if one takes habit to be a schema. Embodiment accounts for the training of feeling. i. Hegel’s reflection on habit provides the model for the integration of skills into bodily functions. not the endorsement of belief as such. Hegel’s issue is that soul is constrained not by its bodiliness. but rather a tension that is intrinsic to the very nature of habitus. habit is not the passive sedimentation of the unconscious operations of the body. but rather a sort of schema that enables spirit to distance itself.e. the liberation from sensations that habit yields (EPM §410 R) is not to be understood as underlying an opposition between sensory apprehension and spontaneity. As Forman has noticed contra McDowell.
one can notice a parallel between anthropological capacities and psychological activities. i. that production may precede comprehension. I will now address the relation between habit and memory. For instance.e.e. sheer sensibility differs from intuition in so far as the former accounts for the immediate sensory grasping of the external world. Thus. Accordingly. which is crucial for understanding the empowerment of habit throughout the Psychology. The user of a new language must possess the meaning in order to be able to speak and write the word (EPM §461 Z). he points out that memory belongs to a higher level. In this way.14 Hegel distinguishes three stages of memory: (a) name-retaining memory. In the case of habit. is not merely passive: By the very act of hearing a word. whereas the latter is the ideal content of sensation that underlies the constitution of a spatiotemporal framework. (c) mechanical memory. intelligence produces a connection such that. which is closely related to language. the crucial affinity between habit and memory deserves closer attention. i. Indeed. Hegel maintains that intuition refers to the apprehension of the content of sensation. As Hegel says. the soul represents a potentiality (EPM §389). At the same time. However. i. if one takes into closer account memory (Gedächtnis). the treatment of language in Psychology represents the ideal treatment of the voice.e. therefore psychology can be viewed as the actualisation of those faculties that intelligence develops in the field of cognition as its own activities.unity of soul and consciousness. for it is very close to thinking (EPM §464). by hearing the word. according to Hegel. memory is certainly the activity that parallels habit. as I will attempt to clarify in the following. This can be further clarified. as one of the divisions of representation (Vorstellung) right before thought (Denken). the forming of representation is grounded on comprehension. Memory is presented in the last section of Theoretical spirit within the Psychology. (b) reproductive memory. Habit and Memory Within the Anthropology Hegel remarks that habit is quite similar to memory (EPM §410 R) and that they both represent hard points in the organisation of spirit. It is noteworthy that the Psychology differs from the Anthropology in that the former is no longer tied to specific physiological phenomena. for he claims that we learn to speak and write a language later than we understand it (EPM §461 Z). but rather the stable connection between word. retention. which was explored in the anthropology as a physical phenomenon. psychological functions presuppose the embodied structure outlined in the Anthropology. Hence. Yet. More specifically. they are no longer given by nature. Psychology is ideal in the sense that physiologically different organs can embody different activities. it is intuition of objects located in space and time (EPM §450). Unlike Kant. in order to think. we acquire the capacity to connect it simultaneously to a specific meaning (Bedeutung). for it implies that intelligence recollects the sound of the spoken word together with its representation. it would 7 . (a) The name-retaining memory is based on intuition. Hegel seems to suggest that meaning is not simply the reference of the word. Yet. The function of recollection in retention is precisely that of filling the gap between word and meaning through a spontaneous associative process in order to produce a universal representation. it is capable of generating a meaningful representation. we need language and memory plays a crucial role in the production of linguistic meanings. for Hegel. Hegel seems to maintain that it does not mean that the reverse is true. object and representation. Likewise. but rather to the content of the bodily acts of cognition originally laid out in the Anthropology.
‘as something that is found’ (EPM §463 R). sentences and phrases are triggered independently of any synthesis of form and content. However. What Hegel seems to suggest is that. by routinely recollecting words as meanings. including the language one uses. the order and the structure of discourse are still contingent and depending on circumstances. what we produce through linguistic expression appears to us as something given.15 (b) The reproductive memory is the ability that connects sign and signified without the aid of representation. 163). While speaking or hearing. Thinking arises once we have internalised the rules to connect words in a meaningful way. In this sense. because the word sounds already significant to us. However. In the Kantian framework. At this level. However. since this process is partly the result of a habitual development. As DeVries has pointed out (1988. To this end. intelligence understands the word ‘lion’ as a meaningful sign. but the ability to employ a route established by language without losing the fundamental character of self-reference. As a result. What marks the capacity to think is not simply the use of language. This is compatible with not representing the minded item or thinking of it in any expressed form. The ‘senseless words’ are the syntagmatic relationships of words employed by spirit immediately. memory shares significant characteristics with habituality.be impossible to learn a foreign word without associating it to the standard meaning that the speaker already knows in his or her own language. the problem of the schematism concerns how pure concepts can be applied to intuitions. Thanks to the work of mechanical memory. Although thinking ‘requires habit and familiarity’ (EPM §410 Z).16 Reproduction allows us to abstract from the conscious presentation of representations. It is only when intelligence memorises series of words as (c) mechanical memory that the transition from memory to thinking is obtained. From a Hegelian perspective. The entire mnemonic process can be viewed as the schematism that gradually enables thought to generate meaning without having to rely upon intuition or representation. It is not that the entire thinking activity is assimilated to language. mechanical memory is not identical to thinking. since the use of signs and words become a matter of indifference. 8 . Through the work of memory Hegel offers a model to explain the relation between intuitions and thinking without employing any priori forms. without having any representation in mind. The relation between mechanical memory and thinking is certainly one of the most difficult in the Psychology. we can do away with the a priori in so far as we are confronted only with a system of habitual capacities that function without awareness or necessity of conscious monitoring. at this level. because it recollects only the name as embedded with meaning. the most important feature that intelligence acquires by means of memory is the capacity to be self-acquainted without being self-aware that it is following a rule. Memory dispenses us with the particularity of language. but not separated from. we get used to them to the point that we forget how we unified meaningful series of words. once intelligence is involved in thinking (EPM §464 A). as long as language relies on a habitual act of memorisation. memory provides intelligence with its own space wherein it develops beyond the constraints posited by external and contingent factors. mechanical memory ‘is not a separable faculty of mind. the complex activities of a thinking being’. but rather it is the enabling mechanism of thought. since these have been deeply internalised by meaning. we do not take into account the difference between word and representation. nor a distinct stage in the growth of a thinker. just like habit frees us from the particularity of bodily capacities. but a form of activity that can be isolated within. we do not need to recall or to keep in mind the rules of a particular language.
Therefore. according to which habit differs from memory in so far as the former is a mechanism of the body that lives in an ever renewed present. Yet. for here there is no opposition between inwardness. If so. Subjectivity feels at home only within memory. memory does not involve any sensible mediation between the self and meaning. The relation between memory and thinking suggests that habituality is more a form of self-presence than a constraint. it is not simply repeated like habit. whether we are aware of it or not. such a risk does not depend on habit. habit. we can be conditioned by a given language and thereby avoid the effort to reflect upon the meanings we use. In fact. the dualism outlined by Bergson with regard to temporality does not apply to Hegel’s Psychology. Hegel arguably proposes a theory of body memory and mnemonic activity that are grounded on the capacity of spirit to be self-present without being self-aware of the process it unfolds. While habit abstracts from the content of bodily feelings in order to generate styles and skills. In this sense. Throughout the Psychology. for Hegel. Hegel suggests a unified theoretical development. We are not compelled to take on a new habit in order to replace another one. far from being reduced to motor awareness. memory abstracts from the content of representations in order to constitute imageless meanings. i.18 As long as thought depends on language for its expression.17 Importantly. let us take again into account the relation between memory and thought. such that there is no possibility to escape a habit without shifting to a different one? In order to provide an answer. while the latter is coextensive with consciousness and truly moves in the past (Bergson 2005. but rather on the structure that unifies our overall sense of existence. immediacy and givenness: the differences in the world are differences in thought and intelligence freely moves within such space. Hegel’s account of habit and memory is quite similar to Bergson’s view. to think as conscious agents. The body cannot be separated from the spiritual activity that enables its movements and activity. Yet. 151). As a result. but it is nonetheless different from habit. but intelligently performed. it can be said that the very activity of thinking relies on the set of skills that are required to master a language. such as speaking and writing. 27). but rather as 9 .Apparently. For Bergson. one may wonder whether a form of mechanisation is unavoidable throughout the entire development of theoretic spirit. the exercise of memory implies that inwardness is levelled into pure space. Habituality does not rely on the content of our beliefs or attitudes. However. Instead of introducing a temporal opposition between habit and memory. but rather on our choice. the capacity to reflect upon our thoughts implies that we have the power to question our habits and eventually to subordinate them to others upon which we can reflect in language (Lewis 2007. since habitualities belong to us not simply as routines. Bergson argues that memory can supply habit and even be mistaken for it. because they highlight two layers of self-reference depending on spirit’s theoretical Bildung.e. Hegel and Magritte But in what sense can spirit set itself free? An important aspect of the process of actualisation is that thinking has the potential to have thoughts as objects and to transform its experience into thought. while memory retains from the past only the intelligently coordinated movements that serve the purpose of action. Habit and memory are not reciprocally opposed. should one say that subjectivity is governed by habitual mechanisms. memory is lived and acted. we are thinkers in all circumstances. As Hegel reminds in EPM §465 Z. habit consists of a series of mechanisms that are subjected to a growing number of possible solicitations. entails an outward projection of the self. For Hegel.
is not our freedom to choose. but only in the Philosophy of Objective Spirit. concrete universality can be attained through speculative thought by dialectically reconstructing both the meaning of universality and the logical processes in which it is involved. Habitual schemata are more like centres of orientation than constraints. we let our unconscious routines be the rules of our movements and discourses. Habituality as such is not responsible for the content of those beliefs or attitudes we incorporate due to culture and education. Such a loss can be explicated in terms of logical determinations. Thus. lies at the core of will (EPM §468). for they represent self-given rules that broaden spiritual capacities and dispositions. In this latter. is part of our embodied existence as well as of the determination of concrete universality. which is explicated at the fullest by the Logic.dispositions that structure the layers of spirit’s self-relation. At the same time. but rather in relation to the actualisation of practical will. intelligence is recognitive (wiedererkenned. Hegel holds that moral consciousness and education can prevent mankind from falling prey to self-alienation. our bodily constitution in learning a practice. this kind of universality (e. this self-determining capacity of thinking. to question the meaning of the universality that guides our thinking. This latter offers the ground to understand conceptually the different determinations of the process that generates concrete universality. but the consciousness of our entanglement in particularity. Echoing Aristotle’s notion of moral virtues. Thus. the analysis of habit and memory in Hegel’s thought shows that habituality is more like a schematism than a passive automatism. It is not that we have to acquire knowledge of the logic in order to be agents. objective spirit seeks the realisation of its action in the world (Winfield 2013).e. we can now turn our attention to the problem presented by Magritte’s painting. according to Hegel. the latter preserves the capacity to determine itself freely not independently from habituality. only by means of rational choice. As long as we regularly perform actions that do not require our conscious effort. if habituality is essential to determine genetically the development of thinking. Having such points in view. since we cannot be self-conscious of all particularities inherent in our activity. we cannot escape from habituality just like we cannot escape from our own skin. the loss of particularity experienced through habituality allows subjectivity to confront itself with universality. To put it differently. Our own constitution prevents us from being conscious of all affections and modifications we go through in our daily life. an account of habit as bond of social customs cannot be found in the process of theoretical spirit.g. EPM §465).g. 10 . what we lose in the universality of reflection embodied by habituality. we necessarily abstract from accidental aspects (e. According to Hegel. While theoretical spirit is engaged in the actualisation of its bodily and cognitive capacities. In this sense. i. On the contrary. Menke 2013). The portrait hints at the risk of assimilating habit to beliefs and attitudes that ultimately lead to pervert one’s own nature. Thus. Such risks can be challenged. to be agents presupposes the logical capacity of self-determination. habituality is not conceived as the schema that enables thinking. what Hegel suggests is that our faculty to choose is grounded on the capacity to take our thought as an object. we can fall prey to mindless mechanisms that corrupt our sense of humanity. However. but precisely in virtue of the loss experienced through habituality (Houlgate 1996. In this sense. The issue implicit in habituation has to do with the problem of abstraction: by committing ourselves to an automatic procedure. Accordingly. Hence. It is by engaging in logical thought that intelligence learns to stand in a free relationship to the object (EPM §467 Z). Yet. universality of reflection). However. the rules of the language we speak) to the point of forgetting them as such. as it is showed by the Logic.
Vorlesungen über die Philosophie des subjektiven Geistes. Hans F. Williams. Fulda. Cesa. 1988. Edited by F. Edited by Carla De Pascale. 101-125. Luca Fonnesu and Alessandro Savorelli. Chiereghin. 1991. Erdmann und F. Paul and W. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2001. 2001. David. Paderborn: Mentis. 2007 ‘Logic. Translated by Richard Nice. Der Wahnsinn in der Vernunft. Pisa: Edizioni della Normale. 2013.S. Edited by Franz Hespe and Burkhard Tuschling. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Hegel’s Theory of Madness. Lectures on the Philosophy of Spirit 1827-28. De anima. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Fromann-Holzboog. In Idealismus als Theorie der Repräsentation? Edited by Ralph Schumacher. Bonn: Bovier Verlag. ‘Second Nature and Spirit: Hegel on the Role of Habit in the Appearance of Perceptual Consciousness’. 1994. The Southern Journal of Philosophy 48/4: 325-52. Beiträge zu einer Hegel-Tagung in Marburg 1989. 1988. which is essential to elude the risk portrayed by Magritte. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta. ‘Vom Gedächtnis zum Denken’. Daniel. In Psychologie und Anthropologie oder Philosophie des Geistes. Such a difference is not supposed to introduce any hiatus between subjective and objective spirit. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ferrarin. 135-158. 2010. References Aristotle. Nachschriften zu dem Kolleg des Wintersemesters 1827/28 und sekundäre Überlieferung. In Verso l’eticità. 1981. David Ross. Alfredo. Bourdieu. Matter and Memory. Berthold-Bond. Hespre and B. On the contrary. 147-166. Gamm. Forman. Alfredo. Franco. Historische und Erkenntniskritische Studien zur Dimension des Anders-seins in der Philosophie Hegels. Hamburg: Meiner Verlag 1994. Edizioni della Normale. Band XIII. Suzi. Hans F. 2007. La ‘seconda natura’ fra Kant e Hegel. it aims to highlight that habituality cannot be immediately applied to social practices. Saggi di storia della filosofia. this is what Hegel implicitly suggests. Gablik. Hegel and Aristotle. In Franz Hespe. 9-51. 321-360: Stuttgart: Frommann-Holzboog. Claudio. Translated by R. Tuschling. ‘Anthropologie und Psychologie in Hegels Philosophie des subjektiven Geistes’. 2005. Magritte. Hegel. for moral choice is required. Edited by Rüdiger Bubner and Gunnar Hindrichs. M. Palmer. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 11 . Oxford: Oxford University Press. Henry. Beiträge zu einer Hegel-Tagung in Marburg 1989. The Logic of Practice. Pierre. Edited with Introduction and Commentary by W. Translated by N. In Vorlesungen. London: Thames and Hudson. R. Hegel Theory of Mental Activity. Bergson. Hegel. In Psychologie und Anthropologie oder Philosophie des Geistes. 1990. 1991. it is essential to keep in mind the difference between the necessity of habit as psychological schema and its relevance as social practice once beliefs and values get embedded in it. Burkhard Tuschling. Ultimately. ‘Der griechische Erbe in Hegels Anthropologie’. Gerhard. 1995. nachgeschrieben von J. Ferrarin. Fulda. Walter. deVries. New York: State University of New York. New York: Zone Books. 1961. Thinking and Language’ in Von der Logik zur Sprache. Willem.in order to avoid the risk evoked by Magritte’s painting. Ausgewählte Nachschriften und Manuskripte.
Christoph. 75-96. Terry. Sandkaulen. Basingstoke: Palgrave. In Essays on Hegel’s Philosophy of Subjective Spirit. Stern. Principles of Psychology. 1983. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ‘Thinking Life. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Nature and the Final Ends of Life. 2005. The Case of Mechanical Memory’. Edited by David S. Lewis. Albany: State University of New York. Plato. Michael. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Francesca. ‘Hegel on Habit’. 223-240. Canadian Journal of Continental Philosophy 17/1: 31-49. Houlgate. Simon. Birgit. Russon. In Essays on Hegel’s Philosophy of Subjective Spirit. A Commentary on Hegel’s Philosophy of Mind. Edited by David S. 2013. 2008. Albany: State University of New York. Bourdieu. Stern. 71-86. Speaking of Habits: The Role of Language in Moving from Habit to Freedom. Interdisciplinary Encounters with MerleauPonty. The Owl of Minerva 21/2: 155-165. Malabou. 2013. ‘Hegel's Theory of Second Nature: The "Lapse" of Spirit. Vol. An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding. 2013. Pinkard. The Psychology of Will and the Deduction of Right. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ‘Hegel on the Emotions: Coordinating Form and Content’. Lamb. Dokumente zu Hegels Entwickung. Testa. Richard.R. Stern. ‘Hegel’s Naturalism or Soul and Body in the Encyclopedia. Michelini. Stern. ‘Emotional Subjects: Mood and Articulation in Hegel’s Philosophy of Mind. 107-119. Edited by David S. Plato in Twelve Volumes. 2008.Howard. Memory. Jason J. John. Thomas A. Teleology between Nature and Mind. Justice in Hegel. John. History. In Essays on Hegel’s Philosophy of Subjective Spirit. Albany: State University of New York. 12 . Angelica. Menke. Beauchamp. 2009. The Future of Hegel.’ In Essays on Hegel’s Philosophy of Subjective Spirit. 2010. 1. 1990. and Merleau-Ponty’. Hoffmeister. ‘Can an Old Dog Learn New Tricks? Habitual Horizons in James. Translated by Harold North Fowler. Routledge: London & New York. 2010. Herausforderungen philosophischer Anthropologie’. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Fromann-Holzboog. Introduction by W. 2007-8. David. Plasticity. In Essays on Hegel’s Philosophy of Subjective Spirit. McCumber. Frankfurt am Main: Ontos. Albany: State University of New York Weiss. Lumsden. ‘Hegel. Temporality and Dialectic. Mario. ‘Die Seele ist der existierende Begriff. The Relationship between Spirit and Nature in Light of Hegel’s Account of Madness. 2013. Edited by David S. Edited by Luca Illetterati and Francsca Michelini. Catherine. 2012. 2012. Hegel’s Conceptualization of Living Being as an Autopoietic Theory of Organized Systems’. Derrida. The Owl of Minerva 39/1-2: 25-53. William. 121-138. 2013. Winfield. Edited by David S. In Purposiveness. Edited by Tom L. 201-221. Nuzzo. Inwood. 1999. 19-36. Rethinking Hegel’s Theory of Practical Intelligence. 1936. 1996. In Intertwinings. 2013. Johannes. Hume. Gail. and Restricted Economy. Albany: State University of New York.’ International Philosophical Quarterly 49/1: 41-52.M. Stern. Italo. ‘Between Nature and Spirit: Hegel’s Account of Habit’.’ Symposium. Hegel’s Naturalism. James. Wenning. Mind. Albany: State University of New York. Stephen. Hegel-Studien 45: 35-50. 1966. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Journal of the History of Philosophy 34/1: 79-93.
what I sense. habit is said to diminish the movements required to achieve a given result. Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann. According to Ferrarin (2001: 277). Enzyklopädie (1830). Ziglioli. I am. Sandkaulen (2010) and Nuzzo (2012). See Michelini (2008). Verkörperung. which only subsequently. He uses Verleiblichung in the Philosophy of Subjective Spirit (more specifically in the Anthropology). James raises an issue that is fundamental also in Hegel’s account of habit: the training of sensitivity does not entail that the body is imbued with a form. For Malabou. means the possession of a structure weak enough to yield to an influence. For Aristotle. 2007:153). According to James (1983: 110). Verkörperung and Inkarnation in the Lectures on Aesthetics and Religion respectively. ethical life is shaped by the set of habits and customs that accompany the historical development of society. but it is born with us. In this sense. this paper would have been flawed in many respects. I am here immediately present [gegenwärtig] in the content. instead of overcoming. the forming of habit is due to the plastic nature of the physiology of the nervous system. 1 I wish to thank Michael Sellis. Drawing on experimental and applied researches. For a discussione see Wolff (1992) and Ferrarin (2001. 2014. It fashions the human by an incorporation (Verleiblichung) or rather an incarnation of the spiritual similar to an hypotyposis. as it were in a circle. Berhold-Bond (1995). ‘Linguaggio e oggettività’ in Hegel. in the wide sense of the word. 3 See Forman (2010). James holds that habit depends on the way a course of sensations gets embedded in the structure of the nervous system. The “exemplary individuality” which is man “sculpted” by habit discloses. Instead. Hegel would have probably agreed on many aspects of Husserl and Bourdieu’s analysis of habit. since he emphasises man’s preintentional and later explicit will. as well as the conscious attention with which our acts are performed. but this seems closer to James’ view on plasticity than to Greek sculptures. Michael. Hegel ignores the Aristotelian difference between sensation and learning. you know. the unity of essence and accident’. Das Körper-Seele-Problem: Kommentar zu Hegel. 13 Such a structure has been interpreted as a case of hypotyposis (Malabou 2005:26). 9 On Hegel’s notion of madness see: Gamm (1981). Brian O’Connor and Alfredo Ferrarin for reading and commenting on an earlier draft of this paper. At the same time. 268-78). Inkarnation. such as: Verleiblichung. Wenning (2013). but always went forward in a straight line without turning back or curving. As such.Wolff. but that the sphere of 13 . ‘habit. Lucia. as if in a Greek statue. the hiatus between ideal and corporeal. Without their questions and thoughtful remarks. a process whereby the psychic and the somatic are translated into one another. Hegel’s treatment of habit evokes a plastic model. 6 For both Hegel and Aristotle no passivity is involved in sensation. the dichotomy between ideal and corporeal is not overcome. in the end all things would have the same form and be acted upon in the same way and stop being generated at all’. see also Fulda (2001). Malabou also identifies habit as the middle term of the syllogism joining particularity (‘particularity of feeling’) and universality (those same particulars having become the ‘forms’ in which spirit is active). 1992. The difference among these notions is grounded on the Fichtean distinction between Körper and Leib. By interpreting habit as plasticity in virtue of its ‘penetrating’ or ‘forming’ the body through spirit. For a further analysis of embodiment in Hegel’s philosophy. 10 This point can be further analysed in light of the Aristotelian distinction between sensation and learning. is a genuine plasticity. then. Pinkard (2012). Rivista di filosofia 2: 223-246. appears to me as a self-dependent world confronting me’. learning grammar is a formation of our disposition that presupposes a proper training. and what am. For James. ‘plasticity. Thus. in the case of sensations the hexis (habit) does not have to be acquired. all remaining errors are mine. To be sure. Lucia Ziglioli. 11 Such self-reflexive reversal has been recently investigated in light of Varela’s biological theory of auto-poiesis. Willem deVries. see: Inwood (2010: 354-5) and Russon (2009). 2 According to the Philosophy of Right. See also Forman (2010). Susanne Herrmann-Sinai. However. when I become objective consciousness. Malabou’s reading emphasises habit as the idealised form of the body to the point of reproducing. Each relatively stable phase of equilibrium in such a structure is marked by what we may call a new set of habits’. 5 For a critical contextualization of Hegel’s Anthropology. See also Cesa (2013). going round. 4 Compare with Plato’s Phedo 72 b: ‘For if generation did not proceed from opposite to opposite and back again. 7 Hegel does not have a univocal concept for embodiment. Testa (2013). I sense. whereby soul comes to enjoy a position between abstraction and rigidity (Malabou 2005: 37). for he clearly distinguishes between several notions. See also F. 12 Hegel (1994:125. Chiereghin (1991). Of course. 8 See: Enz §402 Z: ‘At this standpoint. but strong enough not yield all at once.
developed within the Philosophy of Subjective Spirit. on hearing a word. and this very concept has been actualised in the intelligence. James assigns to habit an unlimited power such that it governs the fixity of our characters and routines (Weiss 2008: 227). 18 However. Hegel is here trying to explain how language emerges in a single individual from more basic capacities. 17 See: Hegel (1994:226-7. while retentive memory simply keeps the signs in readiness for use’. an image of something to which the word applies comes into our heads. However. but rather on the self-acquaintance of the Idea. see also deVries (1988: 154): ‘Note that Hegel is not saying here that. Instead. […] That the intelligence knows this as thought. to attain to the level of speculative thought means to gain a form of knowledge that is no longer grounded on the self-acquaintance of spirit. 16 On this. In other words. for Hegel physiology cannot be determinant. means here that the intelligence transforms the given into something free’. According to Hegel. the word signifies the ability. for habit highlights a self-referential pattern that is essential for soul to acquire consciousness. 14 . in turn. This is the reason why Hegel encourages a psychic physiology (EPM §401 R) and shows interest in the investigations concerning the embodiment of sensations. it exists as the drive to think. not everyone seeks the philosophical or – in Hegel’s sense – speculative knowledge of reason. the intelligence is conscious of its own vocation and end. Although each of us is a thinker. Insofar as it is for itself as the act of thinking. 15 As noticed by Inwood (2007: 506). […] The absolute inner end of intelligence is to exist as thinking. The end is the concept.sensitivity develops independently from higher-order faculties. 14 See: Fulda (1991). that it transforms its experience into thought. speculative thought is the unfolding of the Idea whose subjective existence is. Another possibility suggested by Inwood is that ‘both the understanding of a word encountered and the production of a word fall under the heading of reproductive memory. to think is not the same as to be self-conscious of one’s own thinking. 2007:237-8): ‘The intelligence wants to think. but rather that at this stage knowing the meaning of a word does mean that one has the ability to generate such images. the concept should be actualised and come to existence. For a discussion on the relevance of physiology in Hegel’s Anthropology see Howard (2013). Ferrarin (2007). Ziglioli (2014). so that thinking is its end. not the images’.

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