Article ID: CBB049297187

In between Mental Evolution and Unconscious Memory: Lamarckism, Darwinism, and Professionalism in Late Victorian Britain (2017)

unapi

In 1884 Samuel Butler published a collection of essays entitled Remarks on George Romanes’ Mental Evolution, where he attempted to show how Romanes’ idea of mental evolution presented similarities with his theory of unconscious memory. By looking at Romanes’ work through Butler’s writing, this article will reevaluate some aspects of their works regarding the complex debate about memory, heredity, and instinct. This paper will explore the main differences and similarities between Romanes’ science and Butler’s writing on science both in terms of their ideas and contents. It will then look into their different professional relationships with Darwin and how this determined the professional and public reception of their theories.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB049297187/

Similar Citations

Article Gjerløff, Anne Katrine; (2009)
Fra aber i ankedoter til katte i kasser---Evolutionsteoriens rolle i dyrepskologiens udvikling (/isis/citation/CBB001022217/)

Article Forsdyke, Donald R.; (2010)
George Romanes, William Bateson, and Darwin's “Weak Point” (/isis/citation/CBB001022707/)

Article Cristiano Turbil; (2018)
Making Heredity Matter: Samuel Butler’s Idea of Unconscious Memory (/isis/citation/CBB631605560/)

Thesis Walsh, Kira Marie; (2013)
From Mars to Oprah: Cryptomnesia as Hidden Memory and Unconscious Plagiarism (/isis/citation/CBB001567459/)

Article Forsdyke, Donald R.; (2006)
Heredity as Transmission of Information: Butlerian “Intelligent Design” (/isis/citation/CBB000671188/)

Chapter Baldwin, Melinda; (2014)
The Successors to the X Club? Late Victorian Naturalists and Nature, 1869--1900 (/isis/citation/CBB001422055/)

Book Schwartz, Joel; (2010)
Darwin's Disciple: George John Romanes, A Life in Letters (/isis/citation/CBB001023139/)

Article Mariagrazia Portera; Mauro Mandrioli; (2021)
Who's afraid of epigenetics? Habits, instincts, and Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory (/isis/citation/CBB031764747/)

Book England, Richard; (2003)
Design after Darwin, 1860--1900 (/isis/citation/CBB000330936/)

Book Pleins, J. David; (2014)
In Praise of Darwin: George Romanes and the Evolution of a Darwinian Believer (/isis/citation/CBB001510109/)

Article Alejandro Gordillo-García; (2016)
The challenge of instinctive behaviour and Darwin's theory of evolution (/isis/citation/CBB297446928/)

Book Nicholls, Angus; Liebscher, Martin; (2010)
Thinking the Unconscious: Nineteenth-Century German Thought (/isis/citation/CBB001033279/)

Article Schulkin, Jay; (2007)
Curt Richter: Psychobiology and the Concept of Instinct (/isis/citation/CBB000774008/)

Thesis Pasqualini, Mauro; (2012)
The Adventures of the Unconscious: A Cultural History of Psychoanalysis in Italy, 1920--1940s (/isis/citation/CBB001567380/)

Thesis Frederickson, Kathleen; (2008)
The Content of Instinct: Fiction, Liberalism, and the Sciences of Sexuality,1870--1900 (/isis/citation/CBB001560658/)

Authors & Contributors
Forsdyke, Donald Roy
Schwartz, Joel S.
Turbil, Cristiano
Alejandro Gordillo-García
Portera, Mariagrazia
Mauro Mandrioli
Concepts
Psychology
Evolution
Instinct
Unconscious (psychology)
Heredity
Scientific literature
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
20th century
Places
Great Britain
Germany
Italy
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment