What is habit? Do habits turn us into machines or free us to do more creative things? Should religious faith be habitual? Does habit help or hinder the practice of philosophy? Why do Luther, Spinoza, Kant, Kierkegaard and Bergson all criticise habit? In this thought-provoking book Clare Carlisle examines habit from a philosophical standpoint.

1. The Concept of Habit 2. Habit and Knowledge 3. Habit and the Good Life 4. Habit, Faith and Grace Conclusion: Habit and Philosophy. Index

Clare Carlisle is Lecturer in Philosophy of Religion at King's College London. She is the author of three books on Kierkegaard, including Kierkegaard's Philosophy of Becoming: Movements and Positions (2005), and Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling (2010). In 2008 she published the first English translation of Félix Ravaisson's seminal essay De l'habitude.