Understanding rules as habits. Developing a pragmatist anthropological approach

Titolo Rivista PARADIGMI
Autori/Curatori Roberta Dreon
Anno di pubblicazione 2017 Fascicolo 2016/3
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 15 P. 103-117 Dimensione file 191 KB
DOI 10.3280/PARA2016-003007
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By taking Wittgenstein’s well-known reflections on following a rule as its starting point, the paper suggests that what the Austrian philosopher meant by rule could better be understood in terms of habits, as these have been theorized by the classical pragmatists – and by John Dewey in particular. This kind of interpretation reinforces both the rejection of the intellectualistic approach to the issue of following rules, and the emphasis on their primarily social dimension. On the other hand, this reading also forces us to clarify what the anthropological consequences might be of Wittgenstein’s leap from the dichotomy between the alleged a priori norms and their alleged empirical actualizations to our already meaningful ordinary practices. Consequently, the paper articulates the basic anthropological assumptions characterizing the pragmatist approach to habits by stressing their natural and social implications. Finally, the author outlines what the consequences might be of this interpretation of rules in terms of habits for the question of normativity.

Prendendo avvio dalle note riflessioni di Wittgenstein sul problema del "seguire una regola", il saggio sostiene che la proposta del filosofo austriaco potrebbe essere compresa meglio traducendo regole con abiti e intendendo questi ultimi nei termini in cui furono concepiti dai pragmatisti classici - e da John Dewey in particolare. Questo tipo di interpretazione rinforza sia il rifiuto dell’approccio intellettualistico al problema delle regole, sia l’enfasi sulla loro dimensione primariamente sociale. D’altra parte, l’autrice riconosce esplicitamente che questo tipo di lettura forza Wittgenstein a rendere chiare quali potrebbero essere le conseguenze sul piano antropologico del suo salto dalla dicotomia tra le presunte norme a priori e le loro presunte realizzazioni empiriche alle nostre pratiche ordinarie già di per sé significative. Pertanto il saggio articola le assunzioni antropologiche che caratterizzano l’approccio pragmatista agli abiti, sottolineandone le implicazioni naturali e sociali. In conclusione l’autrice accenna alle conseguenze che questo tipo di interpretazione delle regole in termini di abiti possono avere per la questione della normatività

Keywords:Abiti, Regole, Wittgenstein, Dewey, Antropologia

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  • Affective Scaffoldings as Habits: A Pragmatist Approach Laura Candiotto, Roberta Dreon, in Frontiers in Psychology 629046/2021
    DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.629046

Roberta Dreon, Understanding rules as habits. Developing a pragmatist anthropological approach in "PARADIGMI" 3/2016, pp 103-117, DOI: 10.3280/PARA2016-003007