Will and Habit

Two of the traditional cardinal notions of Ethics--Virtue and Freedom--are seemingly antithetical to one another. While a virtue is a species of habit, and, hence, is inculcated and repeatable, Freedom is novel, and, hence, is independent of any previous conditioning. Virtue predominates for Aristotle, but Kant argues that every new experience challenges any prior achievement. Now, Formaterialism recognizes the two notions as respective expressions of its two principles--Freedom as Material Causality, i. e. the process of setting oneself in motion, and Virtue as Formal Causality, i. e. the structuring of Motility. In this system, that the two principles are inversely related does not preclude that Experience is constituted by their combination, as is in evidence in improvisation, i. e. innovation that does not sacrifice structure. Likewise, more generally, a previously acquired habit can inform any new occasion, and it does not seem likely that Aristotle would reject Kant's implication that Courage entails the welcoming of new challenges.