Habit (Dewey)

Dewey's concept of habit is among the most misunderstood ideas in his philosophy, and the misunderstanding is consequential. In popular usage, a habit is a routine — a repeated behavior performed without thought, to be broken or formed depending on its moral value. Dewey meant something far more substantial. A habit, in Human Nature and Conduct, is an active disposition — a way of engaging with the world that constitutes the organism's character. Habits are not things an organism has. They are things an organism is. The sum of a person's habits is the person, in the same way that the sum of a river's channels is the river. Every repeated practice reshapes the practitioner; the question the AI age forces is what kind of person the practice of AI-augmented work is producing.