Life and Habit

Life and Habit is a philosophical book written by Samuel Butler, first published in 1877. The book explores the idea that habits and instincts may be inherited from our ancestors, rather than being solely the result of individual experience and education. Butler argues that our ancestors' habits and instincts are passed down through the generations and become part of our biological makeup, influencing our behavior and shaping our lives. He uses examples from the animal kingdom and human society to support his arguments and suggests that this theory has important implications for our understanding of evolution and the nature of life itself. The book is written in a clear and engaging style, making it accessible to a wide range of readers interested in philosophy, evolution, and the nature of human behavior.If such remarks as the above hold good at all, they do so with the words ""personal identity."" The least reflection will show that personal identity in any sort of strictness is an impossibility. The expression is one of the many ways in which we are obliged to scamp our thoughts through pressure of other business which pays us better. For surely all reasonable people will feel that an infant an hour before birth, when in the eye of the law he has no existence, and could not be called a peer for another sixty minutes, though his father were a peer, and already dead.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.