Abstract

Using the Online Library of Liberty database, which is sponsored by the Liberty Fund, I explore the role played by the word habit in the history of classical liberalism. At the same time, I interrogate the usefulness of the Search function, the digital finding tool provided by the website. Simultaneously a survey of the changing uses of habit and a meditation on our scholarly research habits, this article investigates the intersections between ideas about free agency and habitual behaviors. It also tests the possibilities and limitations of digital archives, the increasing availability of which threatens to make conventional scholarly habits obsolete.