Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1901-10-26
SPENCER eAFFLED.
fhe Great Philosopher Practically
Admits Himself Conquered.

fhe Great Philosopher Practically
Admits Himself Conquered.
Spencer's great life work. ~ System
OF Synthetic Philosophy" Is probably
the greatest scientific literary work
ever undertaken and accomplished by
one man. It's ten volumes have occu-
MED the author for practically forty
wears. This wonderful work, library
in itself, was begun In 1850. 1t Is an
encyclopedia philosophy. summing up
the evolution of life in all its phases,
from the general law Of the aggrega-
ton and dissolution Of bodies, the eVo-
luton of organic nature and the devel-
opment and variation Of plants and an
finals to the origin and growth of mind,
the laws Of psychology and the newer
science Of sociology. Yet after all MS
labors. all his struggles against adverse
circumstances, Mr.. Spencer at the close
of his great work admits a failure lie
set out to know the unknowable ana
coupled his negation Of God with the
assertion of some strange, unknown,
absolute thing which can neither know
nor feel nor think, yet which Is behind
the cosmos, directing In some myste-
rious way the universe. This has prov
ed far from satisfying to minds such as
could comprehend the philosophy or
Herbert Spencer.
1t has not followed that all who have
mastered his science of life and system
of philosophy and have been filled with
admiration for his profound thought
and vast sesearch have become "Spen-
cerians." In fact, faithful disciples or
Herbert Spencer are few and far be-
tween. Yet the world Of thought owes
much to Mr.. Spencer for which 1t has
not given him full credit. His name Is
seldom associated with the growth or
the theory Of evolution. yet Its accept
ance in the modern sense is largely due
to him. Mr.. Spencer had accepted and
preached the theory Of evolution long
before Darwin published 1.-THE Origin
of Species" In 1859, and he 1t was who
coined the phrase 1.-THE survival OF the
fittest."
For years and years Herbert Spencer
worked at his Synthetic Philosophy
gathering together all the material ar
forded by scientists in almost every
branch Of knowledge, with the inten-
ton of publishing at last a GROWING
work dealing with the principles OF
ethics, which would give practical
issue to all his former theoretical stud
les. When the time came to write this
last book of all, when his life OF self
denial and struggle was about to De
ended with the placing Of the capstone
of the edifice he had erected to be q
guide to all mankind, the philosopher
found himself baftled. All the immense
mass of material which he had gather
ed proved insufficient to give the con
elusive and irrefutable evidence which
would satisfy the philosopher. And SC
in the preface to his last book Herbert
Spencer practically admits himself con
quered by the too difficult problem OF
the complexity of human nature. STU
he is one of the worlds great thinkers
and his fame grows every day. And
besides the value of his philosophy
there is the value of the example OF
his life, an example much needed In
these days when men work so much
for the things of the moment and are
unwilling to make sacrifices to accom-
plish the things which are lasting
New York Press.