Triadic Law of Habit
Reflecting on David Hartley’s Theory and Practice of Moral Development
Abstract
This paper reconstructs and frames David Hartley’s triadic law of habit as foundational to his neurophilosophy of moral development. Extending the focus onto his implementation of the ‘Rule of Life’ – a natural principle of moral progress –, it argues that the super-empirical reality referred to in Hartley’s mystical vocabulary is emotionally invested by his own practice. Through an examination of his methods – particularly meditation and language cultivation – the paper presents Hartley as a meaningful interlocutor on the issue of moral stagnation and reflects on his relevance to the contemporary challenge of social fragmentation.
Presentato: 12 Maggio 2025 | Accettato: 01 Settembre 2025 | Pubblicato 10 Dicembre 2025 | Lingua: en
Keywords Mysticism • Habit • Language • David Hartley • Practical philosophy
Copyright © 2025 Catherine Dromelet. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/Jolma/2723-9640/2025/02/006