Literary notes about Modification (AI summary)
The term "modification" has been applied in literature with remarkable breadth, functioning as a descriptor for subtle tweaks as well as profound transformations. In scientific works, for example, Darwin uses it repeatedly to describe evolutionary changes in species [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15], while in philosophical and sociological texts it signifies shifts in theory or perception—often marking significant departures from established ideas [16, 17, 18, 19, 20]. In technical and legal documents, modification denotes specific alterations to documents or processes, such as updating file timestamps or amending statutes [21, 22, 23, 24, 25]. Even in literature and artistic criticism, the term captures the nuance of evolving style or perspective, as seen in the subtle change of personal aspects or creative intent [26, 27, 28, 29, 30]. Thus, "modification" emerges as a polyvalent term that spans disciplines, highlighting the human preoccupation with change and the evolution of ideas across contexts [31, 32, 33, 34].
- Furthermore, I am convinced that natural selection has been the most important, but not the exclusive, means of modification.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - Therefore I cannot doubt that the theory of descent with modification embraces all the members of the same great class or kingdom.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - I see no reason to limit the process of modification, as now explained, to the formation of genera alone.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - Thus it is, as I believe, that two or more genera are produced by descent with modification, from two or more species of the same genus.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - On a small island, the race for life will have been less severe, and there will have been less modification and less extermination.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - Any tendency to modification will also have been checked by intercrossing with the unmodified immigrants, often arriving from the mother-country.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - But as long as selection is rapidly going on, much variability in the parts undergoing modification may always be expected.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - Let us see how far these several facts and inferences accord with the theory of descent with modification.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - Isolation also is an important element in the modification of species through natural selection.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - It is, therefore, of the highest importance to gain a clear insight into the means of modification and coadaptation.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - It may be asked how far I extend the doctrine of the modification of species.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - Turning to geographical distribution, the difficulties encountered on the theory of descent with modification are serious enough.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - Hence, in accordance with the principles inculcated in this volume, these forms will not have been liable to much modification.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - The forms which stand in closest competition with those undergoing modification and improvement, will naturally suffer most.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - Some other passages scattered through M. Lecoq's large work make it a little doubtful how far he extends his views on the modification of species.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - Nor is Lachmann's 28 modification of his theory any better.
— from The Iliad by Homer - When Descartes, after twenty centuries of verbal physics, reintroduced mechanism into philosophy, he made a striking modification in its claims.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana - Intelligence is accordingly conditioned by a modification of both structure and consciousness by dint of past events.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana - Later, its growth may involve considerable modification of opinions which you previously held to be true.
— from Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking by William James - Consciousness is not a limitation; it is not a determination; it is not a modification.
— from Know the Truth: A Critique on the Hamiltonian Theory of Limitation by Jesse Henry Jones - touch is normally used to change the modification time of the file to the current time.
— from A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs - Modification rendered necessary by the form of the posterior part of the projectile.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - The list of publications is subject to modification in response to requests by members.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - Modification of the sketch according to the different cases presented by the direction of fire relatively to the ground.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - Mean proportion received in France; circumstances 171 which may lead to a modification of it.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - [2] This statement now appears to me to require a slight modification (1884).
— from The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick - Omission, modification, regrouping of the material, these, then, are the effects of the dream censor and the devices of dream distortion.
— from A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud - He was satisfied by the subtle modification of his personal aspect caused by these small changes.
— from The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale by Joseph Conrad - Touch had undergone a modification more peculiar.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe - Reader, if in the course of this work, you find that my opinion of Dr. John undergoes modification, excuse the seeming inconsistency.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - It would be possible, too, to extract, for young persons, without modification, admirable passages of incomparable force.
— from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais - The chief varieties of such modification are illustrated in the following sentences.
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge - [This Lecture, with slight modification, was also delivered on other occasions both before and after.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano - by conscious intuition? or by any form or modification of consciousness?
— from Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
