The inverse law of habit: Psychology of passions and emotions

Abstract

The beginning of the 19th century, especially in France, is marked by a focus on the philosophical investigation of habit. A classic work is Influence de l?habitude sur la facult? de penser by Pierre Maine de Biran. This had been instigated by the physiological research of Marie Fran?ois Xavier Bichat, who stated the inverse law of habit: feeling (sentiment) is blunted by habit, whereas judgment owes to it its perfection. So the question is whether the inverse law implies that habituation has a negative influence on emotions, that it blunts them. In the paper I argue that the answer is negative if Maine de Biran?s version of the inverse law of habit is taken in the context of perceptual view of emotions. According to Maine de Biran sensation is blunted by habit, while perception is perfected. If emotion is a kind of perception of bodily reactions, then although due to habit there is a decrease of these reactions, the perception of them will in turn be sharpened. If we note that the general law behind the inverse law of habit is that there is an inverse ratio between passive and active experiences, then we may conclude that habit blunts passions, and perfects emotions.