...fly-wheel of society, its most precious conservative force." Habits forestalled revolutions, prevented "the hardest and most repulsive walks of life from being deserted by those brought up to tread therein."64 Habits sanctioned conduct. They reinforced traditional ways of doing things and provided...

...prägen, ohne deswegen schon den Titel der Tugend zu verdienen. Eine vielzitierte Stelle bei James lautet: „Habit is thus the enormous fly-wheel of society, its most precious conservative agent. It alonc is what keeps us all within the bounds of ordinance, and saves the children of fortune from thc...

...through habit always as a function of a larger social structural and historical milieu. For James: Habit is thus the enormous fly-wheel of society, its most precious conservative agent. lt alone is what keeps us all within the bounds of ordinance, and saves the children of fortune from...

...his reflections on habit, James affirms the following connection between the individual and society: "Habit is thus the enormous fly-wheel of society, its most precious conservative agent" (ibid., p. 122). We acquire our habits from our habitat, especially the customs of our social habitat,...

...unhesitatingly doing from minute to minute the duties they have been taught," James announces aphoristically: "Habit is thus the enormous fly-wheel of society, its most precious conservative agent" (PPi2s). That James is ambivalent about this aspect of habit has long been observed. Such ambivalence...

...enormous fly-wheel of society, its most precious conservative influence. It alone is what keeps us within the bounds of ordinance, and saves the children of fortune from the uprisings of the poor. It alone prevents the hardest and most repulsive walks of life from being deserted...

...of it. Some of his celebrations of it are nothing short of dismaying. Here is an example: Habit is the enormous fly-wheel of society, its most precious...deserted by those brought up to tread therein. ... It dooms us all to fight out the battle of life upon the lines of our nurture or early choice, and to...

...concludes, is "the enormous fly-wheel of society, its most precious conservative agent." It is what "saves the children of fortune from the envious uprisings of the poor"; it is what "keeps different social strata from mixing" (125). Class structure is habit, and habit is written...

...enormous fly-wheel of society, its most precious conservative influence. It alone is what keeps us within the bounds of ordinance, and saves the children of fortune from the uprisings of the poor. It alone prevents the hardest and most repulsive walks of life from being deserted...

...10; "Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction," Collected 380). The problem, as William James warned, is that "habit is thus the enormous flywheel of society, its most precious conservative agent" (Writings, 16). Pragmatists fear that once we are settled into, and conform to, the acceptable forms...