A philosophy of habit: What our routines can tell us

Philosophers used to look at habits as a way of thinking who we are, what it means to have faith, and why our daily habits reveal something about the larger world.

Aristotle uses the term hexis (a lasting characteristic, capacity or disposition that one 'owns') and ethos (what triggers the essential principles that help to guide moral and intellectual development.) Later in medieval Christian Europe, Aristotle's hexis was Latinised into habitus.

The theologian Thomas Aquinas saw habit as a significant component of spiritual life. In his Summa Theologica (1265-1274), habitus meant rational choice that leads the true believer to the sense of faithful freedom and consuetudo involved habits that inhibit this freedom: the irreligious, daily routines that don't actively engage with faith.

Consuetudo is where we get the terms 'custom' and 'costume' from. It suggests that habit extended beyond individuals.

Enlightenment philosopher David Hume thought of habits in broader terms. He considered habit as something that empowers and enables us. He concluded that habit is the 'cement of the universe' that 'all operations of the mind depend on.'

He believed that any skill we use to change an experience into something useful is built from habits, such as language, music, relationships. Habits are then essential instruments that guide us to navigate the world.