Luck, or Cunning, as the Main Means of Organic Modification (ePub)

Samuel Butler's 'Luck, or Cunning, as the Main Means of Organic Modification' is a provocative and contentious work that challenges the Darwinian orthodoxy of natural selection with the alternative proposition that life evolves more through a process akin to intelligence or design than through mere chance. Butler, in his perspicacious prose, propounds a thoughtful critique intertwined with a polemical literary style, seeking to engage in the scientific debates of his time. The book is a seminal piece in the canon of evolutionary thought, nestled in the period's fervent discourse on biology, heredity, and the mechanisms of change in living organisms.

Butler, an iconoclast thinker and author, was driven by a fervent skepticism of the absolute truths posited by the science of his era. His interests and writings, which spanned a diverse array of subjects, were deeply infused with the conviction that prevailing theories and beliefs should always be scrupulously examined. This foundation illuminates 'Luck, or Cunning?' as Butler's attempt not just to enter the scientific arena but to alter its course by introducing elements of philosophy and questioning the interpretive paradigms of the nineteenth century regarding life's complexity.

'Luck, or Cunning?' is recommended to readers who seek a book that merges science with philosophical inquiry. It especially speaks to those intrigued by intellectual history and the development of evolutionary thought. Butler's work is a challenging yet enriching foray into the dialectic between chance and intent within the natural world; it deserves a place on the shelf of any serious scholar or armchair philosopher interested in the enduring debates over evolution and its driving forces.