Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English philosopher, and a prominent liberal political and social theorist of the Victorian era.
Herbert Spencer | |
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 Spencer at the age of 73 | |
| Born | 27 April 1820 Derby, Derbyshire, England |
| Died | 8 December 1903 (aged 83) Brighton, Sussex, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Era | 19th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Evolutionism, positivism, classical liberalism |
Main interests | Evolution, positivism, laissez-faire, utilitarianism |
Notable ideas | Social Darwinism Survival of the fittest |
Influences
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Influenced
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Works
Spencer developed an all-embracing conception of evolution. He saw evolution as the progressive development of the physical world, biological organisms, the human mind, and human culture and societies.
Spencer never married; he remained a bachelor. He contributed to a wide range of subjects, including ethics, religion, politics, philosophy, biology, sociology, and psychology.
Like Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, he read Malthus' Essay on the principle of population, and was deeply impressed by its argument.[1] Malthus said that sooner or later population growth gets checked by famine and disease, and there are then many deaths.[2] So, he was prepared for Darwin's idea of natural selection, which he preferred to call "survival of the fittest". He did this in Principles of Biology (1864), after reading Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species.[3][4]
- "This survival of the fittest, which I have here sought to express in mechanical terms, is that which Mr. Darwin has called ‘natural selection’, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life."
Spencer's term does strongly suggest natural selection, yet as he extended evolution into realms of sociology and ethics, Spencer made use of Lamarckism rather than natural selection, so it seems he was not a Darwinian after all. Others took up his social ideas, and drew the conclusion that it was useless to try and help the poor, and that competition without limits was the way society should go. Darwin himself did not accept these ideas,[5] but they were quite widespread in the United States at the end of the nineteenth century.
Herbert Spencer Media
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
Tomb, Highgate Cemetery
Portrait of Spencer by John Bagnold Burgess, 1871–72
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
Portrait of Spencer by John McLure Hamilton, c. 1895.
References
- ↑ Stevenson, Leslie and Haberman, David L. 2009. Ten theories of human nature. 5th ed, Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York. p207
- ↑ Petersen, William. 1979. Malthus. Heinemann, London. 2nd ed 1999
- ↑ "Pioneers of Psychology (2001 Tour) - School of Education & Psychology". Archived from the original on 2001-12-24. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
- ↑ Maurice E. Stucke. "Better Competition Advocacy" (pdf). Retrieved 2007-08-29.
Herbert Spencer in his Principles of Biology of 1864, vol. 1, p. 444, wrote "This survival of the fittest, which I have here sought to express in mechanical terms, is that which Mr. Darwin has called 'natural selection', or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life."
- ↑ In The Descent of Man, Darwin said: "Important as the struggle for existence been... the moral qualities are advanced much more through the effects of habit, the reasoning powers, instruction, religion, etc., than through natural selection.". p404