Rethinking the Double Law of Habit with Maine de Biran
Abstract
The history and the prehistory of the ‘double law of habit’ (DLH) is here reconstructed, from its first formulation like ‘law of habit’ with Joseph Butler (1736) to what is commonly considered its richest version, with Félix Ravaisson (1838), passing through its main intermediate stages (from Turnbull to Maine de Biran). The richness of the Maine de Biran’s DLH version will be shown, which, in its identification of three kinds of habits – of sensibility, judgement and imagination – provides a more convincing model than that of Ravaisson. It is also suggested to reread the DLH in the light of the limitations indicated by Ricœur a century later.
Presentato: 23 Aprile 2025 | Accettato: 29 Ottobre 2025 | Pubblicato 10 Dicembre 2025 | Lingua: en
Keywords Double law of habit • Ricœur • Law of habit • Maine de Biran • Ravaisson
Copyright © 2025 Marco Piazza. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/Jolma/2723-9640/2025/02/007