Habit, sedimentation and institutions

Abstract

In contrast to intellectualist and behaviorist conceptions of habit, recent enactivist discussions argue that habits reflect a type of contextualized intelligence. This enactive anti-intellectualist view is a close cousin to the pragmatist and phenomenological conceptions of habit as embedded in bodily modes of response and sedimented in modes of perception. The phenomenological concept of sedimentation, however, provides a way to understand how habits relate to social/cultural/institutional factors, not unlike Bourdieu’s concept of habitus (and in spite of Bourdieu’s criticism of Husserl). Despite some important differences between the phenomenological and enactive approaches to habit, I argue that the concept of sedimentation can enrich the enactive analysis, allowing for a dynamical understanding of the role played by social, cultural and institutional factors in habit formation, and the role played by habit in the formation of institutions.

Publication Title

Cogent Arts and Humanities

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