141. Habit Increase, Corruption, and Diminution

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Whether Any Act Increases a Habit #

• Core Question: Do all acts proceeding from a habit increase it, or only some?
• Acts of insufficient intensity may actually diminish the habit rather than increase it
• Key Insight: Growth occurs through intensification of participation, not addition of form to form
• Two modes of habit increase:
  • Extension of the form itself to more objects (e.g., learning more geometry theorems)
  • Intensified participation in the same form (e.g., deeper understanding of the same material)

Corruption of Habits #

• Central Problem: Can habits be corrupted if their subject is incorruptible (as with intellectual habits in the soul)?
• Habits in corruptible subjects (bodily habits like health) can be corrupted through:
  • Corruption of the subject itself
  • Introduction of contrary qualities
• Habits in incorruptible subjects (intellectual habits in the understanding) cannot be corrupted per se, but can be corrupted per accidens through decline of secondary subjects
  • Example: Scientific knowledge is chiefly in the possible understanding (incorruptible) but secondarily in sense powers (corruptible)
  • As imagination declines with age, scientific habits weaken
• Intelligible species (the object of intellectual habits) have no contraries
• Contrary acts: Sinning and acts of vice can corrupt virtues; deception corrupts knowledge

Diminution of Habits #

• Central Problem: Can habits be diminished, or must they be either wholly possessed or wholly lost?
• Diminution occurs according to diverse modes of participation by the subject
• The habit itself remains a simple form, but the subject partakes of it more or less perfectly
• Habits are diminished through:
  • Cessation from use: Time is a cause of oblivion
  • Contrary acts: Acting contrary to a virtue weakens it
  • Reduction of intensity: Acts lacking proportional intensity to the habit

Key Arguments #

Objection: Acts Cannot Increase Habits (Article 3) #

• Premise 1: Multiplication of causes multiplies effects; acts are causes of habits
• Premise 2: All acts from the same habit are similar; therefore all should have the same effect
• Conclusion: Therefore all acts should increase the habit
• Counter-objection: But negligently performed acts (like careless prayer) diminish rather than increase the habit

Objection: Habits Cannot Be Corrupted #

• Premise: Habit is a second nature; nature is not corrupted
• Premise: Science (as a habit) exists in the incorruptible understanding and has no contrary
• Premise: Bodily changes cannot affect intelligible species in the understanding
• Conclusion: Therefore habits cannot be corrupted
• Counter-objection: Forgetfulness and deception are corruptions of knowledge; sinning corrupts virtues

Objection: Habits Cannot Be Diminished #

• Premise: A habit is a simple form; simple forms are either wholly had or wholly lost
• Premise: If a habit is diminished according to itself, it would be a species predicated of individuals according to more or less (which is impossible)
• Conclusion: Therefore habits cannot be diminished
• Counter-objection: Since habits can be increased, and growth and diminution are contraries, habits must be able to be diminished

Important Definitions #

Habit and Its Stability #

• Habits have a likeness to nature but fall short in stability
• Disposition (διάθεσις): a quality easily moved, changeable
• Habit (ἕξις): a more stable quality, but not as stable as nature itself
• Habits are removed with difficulty but are removable, unlike nature

Growth (Augmentum) #

• Not addition of form to form, but intensified participation in a single form
• Two modes:
  1. Extension: The form encompasses more objects
  2. Intensification: The subject partakes more perfectly of the same form

Corruption vs. Diminution #

• Corruption (φθορά): Complete loss of a habit
• Diminution (ἐλάττωσις): Decrease in the degree or extent of participation
• Corruption can be per se (through contraries) or per accidens (through subject corruption)
• Diminution is always per accidens, a way toward corruption

Act Intensity #

• Proportional act: An act equal to or exceeding the habit’s intensity; increases or disposes for growth
• Deficient act: An act of insufficient intensity; diminishes the habit
• The intensity of acts determines whether they generate, increase, maintain, or corrupt habits

Habits in the Soul #

• Intellectual habits are chiefly in the possible understanding (incorruptible)
• But secondarily in the apprehensive powers of sense (corruptible)
• The apprehensive powers (powers of grasping): sense powers through which imagination operates
• The desiring power (powers of appetite): rational appetite related to will and emotions

Examples & Illustrations #

Children Learning Generosity #

• A child takes a toy from another child’s house
• Parent teaches through correction and gentle redirection
• Repeated acts of sharing gradually form the habit of generosity
• Eventually the child acts generously without deliberation

The Lost Billfold (Personal Narrative) #

• Berquist and his brothers found a billfold in Minneapolis parks
• Searched for the owner through newspapers and advertisements
• This act was an example of generating/strengthening the habit of honesty

Negligent Prayer #

• Saying prayers negligently (rattling them off without attention) diminishes rather than increases the virtue of piety
• Acts must have sufficient intensity proportional to the habit

Scientific Knowledge and Imagination #

• Einstein’s productivity declined in later years as imagination waned
• Nobel Prize winners typically achieve recognition in their 20s-30s, not 60s-70s
• Scientists depend more on imagination than philosophers (who rely more on reason)
• One cannot reconstruct a geometric proof if unable to imagine the figure

Language Skills Through Disuse #

• A priest assigned to teach Greek occasionally must relearn it each time he teaches
• Languages are lost through cessation of use
• St. Robert Bellarmine was assigned to teach Hebrew without prior learning of it
• Warren Murray’s observation: hearing Dante recited in Italian conveys the rhythm better than reading in translation

Intensity of Study #

• Discussing the first chapter of Aristotle’s Physics with a highly knowledgeable and intense colleague increases understanding more than casual conversation
• Intense acts of the intellect increase intellectual habits more effectively

Questions Addressed #

Whether Any Act Increases the Habit #

• Resolution: Not every act increases a habit; only acts proportional to or exceeding the habit’s intensity do so. Acts of deficient intensity may actually diminish the habit. Similar acts produce similar habits, but the intensity of the act matters for growth.

Whether Habits Can Be Corrupted #

• Resolution: Habits in incorruptible subjects (intellectual habits in the understanding itself) cannot be corrupted per se. However, they can be corrupted per accidens through corruption of their secondary subjects (sense powers) or through contrary acts (deception, false reasoning). Moral virtues in the desiring part can be corrupted through contrary acts moved by passion, ignorance, or choice.

Whether Habits Can Be Diminished #

• Resolution: Habits can be diminished according to the diverse modes of participation by their subject. While the habit itself remains a simple form, the subject’s more or less perfect participation in that form constitutes diminution. This is a way toward corruption.

Time and Habit Corruption Through Cessation #

• The sense powers subject to time decline through disuse. Cessation from virtuous acts allows contrary passions to arise; cessation from intellectual acts allows forgetting to occur. These work as accidental causes of habit corruption.

Connections to Prior Material #

• The discussion of habit growth connects to Article 3’s examination of whether repetition necessarily increases virtue
• The analysis of corruption and diminution prepares for the next question on the degrees of habit loss
• Berquist emphasizes that habits are stable but not nature-like, paralleling his earlier distinction between disposition and habit