According to traditional interpretations, the habituation of character is a mechanical process that chronologically precedes more reflective and cognitive moral development. I challenge this view, arguing that habituation is primarily a form of critical practice dependent on cognitive capacities of choice, perception, and deliberation. We are not children and then, at once, at the age of majority, reflective adults. Rather, as children we are gradually and incrementally, in the process of becoming reflective adults. A developmental account of this sort is requisite if we are to understand Aristotle's claim that the person of good character is at once the person of practical wisdom.
Keywords: Aristotle, emotions, habituation, practical reason, practical wisdom, virtue