Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- CHAP. I ON CERTAIN ACQUIRED HABITS
- CHAP. II CONSCIOUS AND UNCONSCIOUS KNOWERS—THE LAW AND GRACE
- CHAP. III APPLICATION OF FOREGOING CHAPTERS TO CERTAIN HABITS ACQUIRED AFTER BIRTH WHICH ARE COMMONLY CONSIDERED INSTINCTIVE
- CHAP. IV APPLICATION OF THE FOREGOING PRINCIPLES TO ACTIONS AND HABITS ACQUIRED BEFORE BIRTH
- CHAP. V PERSONAL IDENTITY
- CHAP. VI PERSONAL IDENTITY—(continued)
- CHAP. VII OUR SUBORDINATE PERSONALITIES
- CHAP. VIII APPLICATION OF THE FOREGOING CHAPTERS — THE ASSIMILATION OF OUTSIDE MATTER
- CHAP. IX ON THE ABEYANCE OF MEMORY
- CHAP. X WHAT WE SHOULD EXPECT TO FIND IF DIFFERENTIATIONS OF STRUCTURE AND INSTINCT ARE MAINLY DUE TO MEMORY
- CHAP. XI INSTINCT AS INHERITED MEMORY
- CHAP. XII INSTINCTS OF NEUTER INSECTS
- CHAP. XIII LAMARCK AND MR. DARWIN
- CHAP. XIV MR. MIVART AND MR. DARWIN
- CHAP. XV CONCLUDING REMARKS
CHAP. XV - CONCLUDING REMARKS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- CHAP. I ON CERTAIN ACQUIRED HABITS
- CHAP. II CONSCIOUS AND UNCONSCIOUS KNOWERS—THE LAW AND GRACE
- CHAP. III APPLICATION OF FOREGOING CHAPTERS TO CERTAIN HABITS ACQUIRED AFTER BIRTH WHICH ARE COMMONLY CONSIDERED INSTINCTIVE
- CHAP. IV APPLICATION OF THE FOREGOING PRINCIPLES TO ACTIONS AND HABITS ACQUIRED BEFORE BIRTH
- CHAP. V PERSONAL IDENTITY
- CHAP. VI PERSONAL IDENTITY—(continued)
- CHAP. VII OUR SUBORDINATE PERSONALITIES
- CHAP. VIII APPLICATION OF THE FOREGOING CHAPTERS — THE ASSIMILATION OF OUTSIDE MATTER
- CHAP. IX ON THE ABEYANCE OF MEMORY
- CHAP. X WHAT WE SHOULD EXPECT TO FIND IF DIFFERENTIATIONS OF STRUCTURE AND INSTINCT ARE MAINLY DUE TO MEMORY
- CHAP. XI INSTINCT AS INHERITED MEMORY
- CHAP. XII INSTINCTS OF NEUTER INSECTS
- CHAP. XIII LAMARCK AND MR. DARWIN
- CHAP. XIV MR. MIVART AND MR. DARWIN
- CHAP. XV CONCLUDING REMARKS
Summary
Here, then, I leave my case, though well aware that I have crossed the threshold only of my subject. My work is of a tentative character, put before the public as a sketch or design for a, possibly, further endeavour, in which I hope to derive assistance from the criticisms which this present volume may elicit. Such as it is, however, for the present I must leave it.
We have seen that we cannot do anything thoroughly till we can do it unconsciously, and that we cannot do anything unconsciously till we can do it thoroughly; this at first seems illogical; but logic and consistency are luxuries for the gods, and the lower animals, only. Thus a boy cannot really know how to swim till he can swim, but he cannot swim till he knows how to swim. Conscious effort is but the process of rubbing off the rough corners from these two contradictory statements, till they eventually fit into one another so closely that it is impossible to disjoin them.
Whenever, therefore, we see any creature able to go through any complicated and difficult process with little or no effort—whether it be a bird building her nest, or a hen's egg making itself into a chicken, or an ovum turning itself into a baby—we may conclude that the creature has done the same thing on a very great number of past occasions.
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- Life and Habit , pp. 294 - 307Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009