Consensus on Peirce’s Concept of Habit: Before and Beyond Consciousness (Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics)

Author: Donna E. WestPublisher: SpringerPaperback:ISBN 10: 3319833995ISBN 13: 978-3319833996Hardcover:ISBN 10: 331945918XISBN 13: 978-3319459189This book constitutes the first treatment of C. S. Peirce’s unique concept of habit. Habit animated the pragmatists of the 19th and early 20th centuries, who picked up the baton from classical scholars, principally Aristotle. Most prominent among the pragmatists thereafter is Charles Sanders Peirce. In our vernacular, habit connotes a pattern of conduct. Nonetheless, Peirce’s concept transcends application to mere regularity or to human conduct; it extends into natural and social phenomena, making cohesive inner and outer worlds. Chapters in this anthology define and amplify Peircean habit; as such, they highlight the dialectic between doubt and belief. Doubt destabilizes habit, leaving open the possibility for new beliefs in the form of habit-change; and without habit-change, the regularity would fall short of habit – conforming to automatic/m