H

HABIT An acquired propensity or disposition to act in a regular way in familiar circumstances. Generally the result of repeated uniform reactions or responses, whether physical or intellectual, to events or experiences of the same kind. Instincts may be regarded as natural habits and in the cosmology of Charles S. Peirce and others even laws of nature are said to be habits. Habitual responses are usually made involuntarily, without reflection or conscious decision-making, and thus are not subject to immediate selfcontrol; but habits can be intentionally changed by a controlled regimen of behaviour repatterning. The role of habit is of key importance in Peirce’s philosophy. According to Peirce, beliefs are habits of action produced by inferential processes. He also held that the final effect of semiosis, which he called the final interpretant, is an intellectual habit, which, although not itself a sign, culminates in a process of intellectual refinement through adjustment to experience. This is a central tenet of Peirce’s pragmaticism. (NH)

See also GROUND, ICON, INDEX and SYMBOL.