The sun., 1903-12-09
Herbert Spencer.

speaking WOTlu ildS loSU d liliilhci "'io
occupied unique position in the history
Of nineteenth century speculatons. 1t
could not be said of HERBERT SPENCER
that he was first hand explorer in any
field Of biological or chemical research
but he turned to far-reaching uses the
discoveries made by other scientists,
deducing from them conclusions that
he wove into comprehensive system,
which, on the theory of evolution, pro-
fessed to explain all the phenomena
OF organic and inorganic existence.
1t was in the volume of Principles
of Psychology" published by SPENCER
in 1885, that the doctrine of evolution
began to take definite form, and to be
applied to various departments of in
quiry 1t WAS not until four years later,
fact not to be overlooked by those who
would estimate correctly the relation of
SPENCER to DARWIN, that the publica-
tion of the latter's "Orign of Species u"
afforded wide basis of scientific truth
for what in SPENCER s treatise had been
matter of surmise and of hypothesis
That hypothesis was upheld, however,
by evidences, drawn, not merely from
biology, but from many other sources.
Moreover, while the Darwnian theory
Of natural selection, supplemented, as
it was, by the adoption of the Lamarck-
ian factors-the effect of use and disuse,
and the assumed transmissibility of
acquired characters-merely attempted
to explain the mode in which the changes
in organic life have taken place upon
the earth, the evolutionary hypothesis
put forth by Mr.. SPENCER purported
to be applicable to the whole sphere of
| the movable.
The truth, propounded as early as
1850 in Social States, that all organic
development is a change from state OF
homogeneity to state of heterogeneity,
was regarded by Spencer himself as the
provocative and organizing principle of
his subsequent beliefs. 1t was not until
ten years afterward that SPENCER issued
prospectus in which he set forth the
general aim and scope of series OF writ
incs which were to be issued in periodical
parts and would collectively institute
system of philosophy. He lived to COM
plete almost the whole of the colossal
task, although for many years i'll health
incapacitated him for persistent applica-
tion. In 1862 appeared the First Prin-
ciples, and five years later the "Prin-
ciples of Biology" In 1872 the "Princi-
pies of Psychology was published; the
| first part of the Principles of Ethics in
1879, and his Principles of Sociology, in
three volumes, begun in 1875, was finished
| in 1885, In the preface to the third vol
| ume Of the last named work, the author
| explained that the fourth volume, orig
| inally contemplated, which was to deal
with linguistic, Intellectual, moral and
aesthetic phenomena would have to re-
main unwritten by reason of the authors
age and infirmities. Yet, although, to
this extent, torso. the philosophical
achievement for which we are indebted
to SPENCER is of astounding magnitude,
| To Americans ii is pleasant recollection
that the importance of the speculations
embodied and coordinated in the SYN
thetio Philosophy" was first recognized
in the United States.
The ethical doctrine which is set forth
in the principles of Ethics, and which
constitutes the elimination of the Spen-
cerian system, is fundamentally, a
corrected and an elaborated version of
the doctrine propounded in Social
States" issued more than half n CEN
tury ago. The correspondence between
the two works is shown by the agree
mcnt of their cardinal ideas. As in the
one, so in the other, man, in common
with lower creatures, is held to be capa-
BILE of indefinite change by adaptation
to conditions. In both he is regarded
as undergoing transformation from a
nature appropriate to his aboriginal
wild life to a nature appropriate to a
settled civilized life; and in both this
transformation is described as a mould :
ing into form fitted for harmonious
cooperation. In both works the mould
ing is said to be effected by the repression
of certain primitive traits no longer
needed, and the development of needful
traits. As in the first work, so in the
last, the great factor in the progressive
modification of man is shown to be SYM
pathy. 1t was contended in Social
States" as it is contended in the "Prin-
ciples of Ethics, that harmonious social
cooperation implies that limitation Of
individual freedom which results from
sympathetic regard for the freedom of
others; and that the law of equal free
dom is the law in conformity to which
equitable individual conduct and equi-
table social arrangements coexist
HERBERT SPENcERs s position with ref
erence to the fundamental postulate
of religion was at one period miscon-
ceived. 1t has been for some time recog-
nized, however, that he could not be
fairly described as a materialist. He
was no more a materialist than he was a
theist He was in the strictest sense OF
the word an agnostic. He was the most
conspicuous example of the thing before
HUXLEY invented the word. Nothing, in
truth, could be more absurd than to apply
the epithet "materialist' to man who
wrote in "The Principles of Psychology" ':
Hence, though, Of the two, it seems