Life and Habit
Life and Habit
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William Bateson claimed at the Darwin Centenary in 1909 that Samuel Butler (1835–1902) was 'the most brilliant and by far the most interesting of Darwin's opponents, whose works are at length emerging from oblivion.' Best remembered today as the author of the novels Erewhon and The Way of All Flesh, he also wrote on a range of subjects from translations of Homer to studies of evolutionary thought. In his Life and Habit (published in 1878) Butler contended that much of inheritance was based on habit making a feature ingrained, to the extent that it could pass between generations. However, he strongly contests Darwin's views on natural selection, and supports those of Lamarck – who he felt was unjustly overlooked in the scientific rush to acclaim Darwin – and of St George Mivart, whose On the Genesis of Species, published in 1871, was another blast against natural selection by a disenchanted Darwinist.
Product details
- Published: July 2009
- Format: Paperback
- ISBN: 9781108005517
- Length: 324 pages
- Dimensions: 216 × 140 × 18 mm
- Weight: 0.41kg
- Availability: Available
Table of Contents
- 1. On certain acquired habits
- 2. Conscious and unconscious knowers – the law and grace
- 3. Application of foregoing chapters to certain habits acquired after birth which are commonly considered instinctive
- 4. Application of the foregoing principles to actions and habits acquired before birth
- 5. Personal identity
- 6. Personal identity–continued
- 7. Our subordinate personalities
- 8. Application of the foregoing chapters–the assimilation of outside matter
- 9. On the abeyance of memory
- 10. What we should expect to find if differentiations of structure and instinct are mainly due to memory
- 11. Instinct as inherited memory
- 12. Instincts of neuter insects
- 13. Lamarck and Mr Darwin
- 14. Mr Mivart and Mr Darwin
- 15. Concluding remarks.
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