Il contributo del pensiero moderno alla teoria dell’abitudine nella riflessione pedagogica di Vittorio D’Alessandro

Abstract:

This paper aims to identify and to understand Vittorio D’Alessandro’s position on modern philosophy of habit, expressed through his pedagogical work Il problema delle abitudini nell’educazione (1961). Starting from an analysis of the concept of habit, defined since antiquity as moral disposition, repetition of acts and set of social attitudes, the author observes that both the Aristotelian conception of immutable habits and the sophist concept of plasticity of habit are present in modern philosophy. He continues showing continuities and discontinuities between modern theories of habit and contributions of contemporary human sciences, until he comes to the conclusion that the dominant critique of traditional education and dogmatic teaching began with Descartes and empirists in 17th century sounds very similar to the Activist Pedagogy, according to which habit is not only a repetitive behaviour, but also a practical skills that implies a relationship between automatism and flexibility.