Habit enables the reversibility of psychic and physical attributes.

Evidence

In his work, the sculptor achieves the unification of the organic and the idea, as he knows that ‘each organ must in general be considered from two points of view: the purely physical one and that of spiritual expression’. This twofold perspective is also what we have seen in the case of human habit. Through its power of self-repetition, habit creates in man the condition for the reversibility of psychic and physical attributes. The features of the soul, as they acquire a physical means of expression, cease to function as a separate world, or a ‘mysterious inner space’. Similarly, the body, as it is made into an instrument, will no longer act as a natural ‘immediate externality’ and a ‘barrier’: ‘In the initial stages, the body shows itself intractable, its movements are uncertain and are either too strong or too weak for the task at hand.’ — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 571

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines habit’s causal power: repetition creates reversibility between interior (soul) and exterior (body), dissolving the inner/outer partition.
• XREF: connects to: Habit’s reversible soul-body translation constitutes the Self and awakens consciousness. — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 573; Habit is a genuine plasticity translating psychic and somatic into one another — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 315; Habit produces the plastic individual as a unity of soul and body — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 582

Broader Connections

• Habit is a genuine plasticity translating psychic and somatic into one another #corroborates (0.95) — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 315
• Habit produces the plastic individual as a unity of soul and body #corroborates (0.80) — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 582