Evolutionary Ideas of Samuel Butler

The aim of this article is to explore the evolutionary ideas of Samuel Butler (1835-1902), a versatile genius and a rare researcher of so many disciplines at a time- a satirist, a novelist, a critic, an essayist, a critic and a rebel of the late Victorian age. It aspires to ascertain the contribution of Samuel Butler as an evolutionary thinker in relation to the prominent evolutionists. Particular attention is devoted to elaborate Butler’s ‘unconscious memory’ in stark contrast to the materialistic approach suggested by Darwin’s theory of ‘Natural Selection’. It endeavors to explain Butler’s attempt to delineate the defects in The Origin of Species and to repair them with a purposive explanation of the evolutionary process. It exhibits Butler’s attempt to demonstrate the way in which variation originated with his theory that memory was the main way in which heredity was transmitted.