Herbert Spencer -- Encarta Biography (Archived)
Spencer, Herbert (1820-1903), British social philosopher, often regarded as one of the first sociologists. He was born in Derby,
England. In 1851 Spencer published Social Statics, a work in
which he stressed the importance of individual freedom and the
inevitability of human progress...
Herbert Spencer (Archived)
Excerpt:
In the real world, whether in nature or in society,
every man is not free to do that which he wills even provided he
infringes not he equal freedom of any other man. That's just the way
things are in the real world. Equal freedom is not an aspect nature or
even of society as it is in reality , resembling nature with respect to
force and deception differing only in that the animals involved are of
the human species, but of society as it ought to be in the opinion
Herbert Spencer. The Law of Equal Freedom is not a natural law but a moral
law.
The Development of Herbert Spencer's Concept of Evolution (Archived)
Essay by Robert M. Young
Excerpt:
The scientific controversies surrounding the theory of
evolution in the nineteenth century were primarily concerned with the
interpretation of the geological, paleontological, and biological
evidence. The public debate, on the other hand, centered above all on
man's place in nature and the implications of evolution for the immortal
soul, the mind, and it organ, the brain. It is somewhat surprising to
find that the writings of historians and indeed of Darwin himself fail
to pay close attention to the effects of the theory of evolution on the
study of mind and brain. If we do turn our attention directly to this
topic, we find that the major nineteenth century figures are Herbert
Spencer, John Hughlings Jackson, and George J. Romanes. In this brief
paper I want to confine my attention to the development and influence of
Spencer's concept of evolution. Unlike Darwin, Spencer was never much of
an observer or indeed a reader, and his independent formulation of a
theory of evolution developed from his speculations in social theory and
psychology. The idea of evolution itself was not, of course, original.
He was converted to a belief in the so-called "development
hypothesis" by reading Charles Lyell, whose supposed refutation of
Lamarck led Spencer to the opposite conclusion. Spencer also took part
in the debates surrounding the anonymous Vestiges of the Natural
History of Creation (1844) and discussed this book with T. H.
Huxley, who later said of the period 1851—1858, "...the only
person known to me whose knowledge and capacity compelled respect, and
who was, at the same time, a through-going evolutionist, was Mr. Herbert
Spencer...
