THE HABITS

OF MAN
OUTLINE:
I. Introduction: The Role of Habit in Human Life
II. The Function of Reason in Habit
III.The Notion of Habit
IV. The Acquisition of Habit
V. The Proper Subject of Habit
VI. Increase and Decrease of Habit
A. By Its Own Acts
B. By Acts of Other Habits
VIII. The Distinction of Habits
IX. Conclusion
X. Bibliography
I. Introduction: The Role of Habit in Human Life
Training…Perseverance…Self-Domination…Self-Control…Pleasure…

These modifications are not only inevitable, they also are indispensable for
existence. Experience teaches us that human activity would not be possible
without the adequate training of our powers (Vendemiati).
I. Introduction: The Role of Habit in Human Life

Power is the grandmother of habit. Man is a creature of habit (Brennan 1941).

Man is born with a vast collection of powers that open up limitless visions of
future development.
I. Introduction: The Role of Habit in Human Life

POWER HABIT
II. The Function of Reason in Habit

GOD

MAN
spiritual
material
intellectual
ANGELS sensitive
ANIMALS
Spiritual
Material
Intellectual
Sensitive

Reason, therefore, must be behind the formation of every

III. The Notion of Habit

Habit is a stable quality disposing the subject

to or act well or bad.
Habitus est qualitas stabilis disponens subiectum ad bene vel male esse sive
operari.
III. The Notion of Habit
ENTITATIVE HABIT
• It modifies the substance of a
thing.
• It affects its possessor in
himself.
• E.g. health, fatness, bodily
beauty
OPERATIVE HABIT
• It disposes the powers or
accidents of a thing.
• It affects its possessor in his
operation.
• E.g. the acquired skill of
playing a musical instrument
III. The Acquisition of Habit

• Habit is acquired through the

repetition of a determined type of
act.

• Habit is acquired only with

laborious effort and frequent
repetition.

• Habits enrich our powers, ergo, do

not come into being in an instant
neither do they vanish in an instant.
 III. The Acquisition
of Habit

• The rule is repeated action

• Aristotle: “ One becomes a

mason only by laying
bricks, and a sculptor
only by handling a chisel.”
IV. The Proper
Subject of Habit

The principle and

primary subject of
habits is the soul.

The sensitive powers

can be called subject of
habits insofar as these
powers are under the
control of reason.
IV. The Proper
Subject of Habit

Knowledge in the human

mind or intellect is a habit;
it disposes a man to act in
accordance with it. Ergo,
intellect is the subject of
habits.

The will likewise is the

subject of habits. Indeed,
habit is specially referred to
the will.
VII. Increase and
Decrease of Habit
by its Own Acts
“If the intensity of the act
is… greater than the
intensity of the habit, it will
reinforce the habit… and in
this manner, repeated acts
cause an augmentation of
the habit. If, however, the
intensity of the act falls
below the intensity of the
habit, it tend to weaken
rather than to strengthen
the habit.”
VII.
Increase
and
Decrease
of Habit
by Acts of
Other
Habits
VIII. The Distinction of Habits

Thus, habits are distinguished as good and bad habits. This

distinction holds in:

• The Physical Order (health; infirmity)

• The Intellectual Order (knowledge; ignorance) aims at Truth

• The Moral Order (virtue; vice) aims at Goodness

IX. Conclusion

From this, I can deduce that, habit is a developed power.

It is both a result of operation and a cause of operation.
Its acquisition is anchored in the law of frequency which
holds that the more repeatedly are the impressions
received and recorded, the deeper the traces and the
harder are they to forget. Thus, the law of frequency is
the building blocks of virtues and vices.
X. Bibliography

Brennan, O.P., Ph.D., R. E. (1941). Thomistic Psychology: A

Philosophic Analysis of the Nature of Man. New York: The
Macmillan Company.

Glenn, P. J. (1978). A Tour of the Summa. Illinois: TAN Books

and Publishers, Inc.
Thank You!
Any Questions?