Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)

## Quotes

“If a single cell, under appropriate conditions, becomes a man in the space of a few years, there can surely be no difficulty in understanding how, under appropriate conditions, a cell may, in the course of untold millions of years, give origin to the human race” - Principles of Biology (1864)

“Man needed one moral constitution to fit him for his original state; he needs another to fit him for his present state; and he has been, is, and will long continue to be, in process of adaptation” - Social Statics (1851)

“People … become so preoccupied with the means by which an end is achieved, as eventually to mistake it for the end. Just as money, which is a means of satisfying wants, comes to be regarded by a miser as the sole thing to be worked for, leaving the wants unsatisfied; so the conduct men have found preferable because most conducive to happiness, has come to be thought of as intrinsically preferable: not only to be made a proximate end (which it should be), but to be made an ultimate end, to the exclusion of the true ultimate end.” - The Principles of Ethics, Vol. I (1897)

## Biography and History

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) was a British philosopher, anthropologist and sociologist, during the Victorian era. He was born in Derby, England and was the son of an English teacher named Mathew Spencer who was very anticlerical, possessed a strong sense of individualism, and a love for nature which he passed on to his son. As a result, growing up he had the freedom to whatever it is he wanted and learned through hands on observation by going into the woods and garden. However, as a consequence of this unconventional learning, by the time he was in his early pre-teens Spencer did not have an understanding of Basic English reading and writing skills, math or Latin. Realizing that he was missing those skills, he was put in the care of his uncle, Thomas Spencer at the age of thirteen.

By his 20’s, Herbert Spencer had turned to journalism. Influenced by his father’s views early in his life and with his uncanny ability to observe and retain information, he wrote his first article at the age of twenty-two for The Nonconformist called “The Proper Sphere Of Government”. He stuck with journalism for most of his early 20’s but it was during this time that he began thinking about evolution. By the 1850s, he had begun putting his ideas together which allowed him to achieve his doctrine of evolution by the end of the 1860s. It was during this period, Spencer had begun to connect evolution to psychology, sociology and even morality. That led to the publication of several books containing most of his initial views on the evolution theory and social sciences where he theorized that biological evolution was a natural order and was an essential part to the advancement of humanity and society.

## Work

Having turned to journalism and political writing in his early 20's, Spencer had a long-standing career as a writer. He worked as a writer and subeditor for The Economist before publishing his first book called Social Statistics in 1851. Following the publication of his less successful book entitled The Principles of Psychology in 1855, his declining health prevented him from spending the majority of his time in his writing. He focused the next couple of years in writing the nine volume series called A System of Synthetic Philosophy which incorporates his views in the natural and social sciences using his model of evolutionary theory.

At the hype of his career, his popularity was on par with that of Charles Darwin. Sadly, his contributions have often been ignored. In fact, it is not commonly known that it was actually Herbert Spencer who had introduced the word ‘evolution’ in the field of science and extended on its meaning and application to include all of nature. During the mid-19th century, his books were mostly sought out by people in search of new answers to old questions about the world. His writing had thus inspired them to turn to the philosophy of naturalism. He also contributed to the development of the theory of functionalism.

He is perhaps best known for applying Darwin’s principles to human society having also coined a famous term as a result. His comparison of biological organisms and human societies led him to coin the term “super-organic” as meaning anything that went beyond the notion of biology. This differentiated from anthropologist Alfred Kroeber’s adaptation of the term who had previously coined it as being synonymous with “culture”.

## Influences

Herbert Spencer was influenced by a number of theorists throughout his life, one of the first of which was Charles Lyell. Lyell's book ‘principles of geology’ (1840), which contained Jean Baptiste Lamarck, a botanist and zoologist who was also influential in Spencer’s theories, favoured young Spencer’s developmental and circumstantial interests. Further literature of Leyll and Crosse concerning transmutation and growth resonated with Spencer and carried him further into his theories of evolutionism and social circumstance.

After moving to London, Herbert Spencer met John Chapman , a bookstore owner who went on to publish Spencer’s aforementioned ‘social statics’ in 1851, which built on  Samuel Taylor Coleridge ‘progressive account on life’. Chapman had introduced Herbert to his circle of influential theorists; one of which was George Henry Lewes, who shared his views on biological development and who he would discuss with at length. It is understood that Herbert Spencer had adopted the environmental condition and organic state  correlation from Auguste Comte, who was/is an extremely influential french positivist, also known as the ‘founding father’ of the sociology discipline.

Herbert Spencer was equally influenced by Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection.  The influence was inturn reciprocated, as Spencer would bring rise to the term ‘survival of the fittest’, which was later stamped by Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. Although Herbert Spencer continues to influence scholars and literature today with his theoretical groundwork, some notable works/ theorists  influenced by him include, but are not limited to, political theorist Murray Rothbard,  structural-functionalist Emile Durkheim and his “Division of Labour”, philosopher Henry Sidgwick and “Deductive Hedonism” (1907) and social scientist William Graham Sumner.

## Analysis

Spencer advocated that social phenomena and the study of society should be approached with a scientific method. This approach led research dealing with empirical data/ research, which sought out synthetic, universal ‘laws’ of sociology/anthropology, making him apart of the structural functionalism school of thought.

Spencer preached biological evolution and observed and advocated its parallels to society.  He concluded the evolution of an organism was circumstantial and heavily influenced by its surrounding.  His work was mostly appreciated after his life opposed to during. In the 1900's, his work garnered more attention because it contributed to the foundation of a number of theories and disciplines including evolution; a still existing paradigm.

## Critique

Spencer's work was influential and critiqued by other anthropologists such as Rothbard, Sidgwick, Sumner, and Durkheim. His theoretical work shows that he had an impact on Emile Durkheim, who was also a structural functionalist theorist. Durkheim's theory on division of labour was a platform to critique Spencer's work. During this time, the theory of evolution was introduced by Charles White. Evolution theory can be considered the foundation of both spencer and Durkheim theoretical work.

Emile Durkheim theory on society has some similarities and differences with Spencer's work. Durkheim critiques Spencer's theory of man and society, "Through the intermediary of a division of labor that is now labelled a "social" or "moral" (rather than economic) phenomenon, Durkheim unhesitatingly renounces Spencer's larger theory of man and society in general; and he proffers what is touted as a sharply contrasted contrasted substitute, something designed to give a new focus to the science of sociology" (792).

## Sources

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Spencer, H. (1988). "The Evolution of Society". In High points in anthropology, edited by P. Bohannan and M. Glazer. New York: Knopf, pp 5- 21.

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