Between Being and Nothingness: The Relevancy of Thomistic Habit

BETWEEN BEING AND NOTHINGNESS: THE RELEVANCY OF THOMISTIC HABIT T HE PURPOSE OF THIS PAPER is to compare St. Thomas's Treatise on Habits with two contemporary philosophies: the analytical philosophy of Gilbert Ryle and the existential approach of Jean-Paul Sartre. In comparing Aquinas's notion of habits with these contemporary views, and in relating his theory to a general psychology of values, the paper, it is hoped, will establish the value of St. Thomas's Treatise for today's studies. St. Thomas deals with the general notion of " habits " in Questions 49-54 of the first part of the second part of the Summa. Throughout his Treatise he expands on Aristotle's formulation of" habit "in the Categories, Ethics, and Metaphysics . In general, " habit " is subsumed under the category of quality. The etymology of the word might suggest that other categories, especially quantity, are involved in the meaning of "habit" since the word is derived from " to have" or" possess." Actually, the Greek verbal noun etii;; drawn from exeiv has three main senses: (1) possession, literally "to have"; (2) a state of being; and (S) the wearing of some apparel. It is the second meaning that Aristotle intends when in Greek construction the verb E.xeiv is used with an adverb. In such cases, the literal phrase" I have well" means" I am in a good state." 1 St. Thomas does not fail to observe this meaning of habit as a qualitative state of being. The" having" that is at stake here is not the having of friends, or money, or clothes, but rather the state or condition of a being disposed to act in one way or another. Habits in this sense dispose our powers of acting. 1 Aristotle, Metaphysics, trans. by C. Kirwan (Oxford Edition, 1971), p. 170. 427 428 JOSEPH J. ROMANO Habits thus are lasting and become ingrained as a " second nature." 2 This quality of an habitual state arrived at through ordered action applies throughout nature in general. Thomas refers to a passage in Aristotle's History of Animals (X, I) in which a being is judged to be healthy when it is capable of performing the actions characteristic of a healthy being. The point is that if "nature" is act-oriented, then "habits" which are a "state of nature " are also act-oriented. When this meaning of " habit" is applied to human nature, however, an interesting paradox is raised. Habits are necessary determinants of actions if human beings are to arrive at any kind of fulfillment. But to say that habits are necessary implies a double-edged sword of value. On one side, we see human nature laden with all sorts of possibilities whereby a human being can intellectualize on and choose from a wide range of objects that far surpasses the capabilities of any animal nature. On the other side, unlike Divine Nature, the human being must habitualize his actions if his nature is to develop continually and grow toward a state of fulfillment. St. Thomas's notion of habits as necessary fits the traditional Greek model of human nature, that in a sense is as existential as it is traditional. The necessity of habits places human existence in that Greek predicament that is paradoxically a blessing and a curse. Human nature is located somewhere between the animals and the gods. On the cognitive level, human beings are intelligent enough to ask an infinite range of questions, but ignorant of absolute answers. On the volitional level, where habit plays an important role, human beings find themselves in a similar half-way house. Unlike the animals whose upper limits of development are established by their physical and instinctive natures, a human being can perfect himself in proportion to the habits that he develops. And yet-poor fellow that he is-he must employ habitual acts if he is to approximate some level of •Aristotle, Ethics, X, 7. THE RELEVANCY OF THOMISTIC HABIT 4~9 perfection. Habits imply a nature that is good enough to have room for growth, but not perfect enough to dispense 1-vith a rigor of repeated actions. This necessity of habits arises from the indeterminant character of human...