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Herbert Spencer

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Title: Herbert Spencer


1
Herbert Spencer
  • (1820-1903)

"Every man is free to do that which he wills,
provided he infringes not the equal freedom of
any other man."
http//gerald-massey.org.uk/holyoake/images/herber
t_spencer.jpg
2
Background
  • More works published
  • The social Organism (1860)
  • First Principles (1862)
  • Principles of Biology (1864-67)
  • The study of sociology (1873)
  • The principles of Ethics- many volumes (1870s)
  • The Principles of Sociology- many volumes (1890s)
  • The Man Versus the State (1884)
  • Autobiography (1904)

3
Concepts
Survival of The Fittest
  • Coined the term, not Darwin
  • Eliminates unfavorable variations of species
  • Focused on both biological and social processes
  • Society is similar to an organism
  • General law of organization common to both
    biological and social organism

4
Concepts
Utilitarianism
  • Equal liberty principle
  • Broadly utilitarianism view
  • Goal of human action
  • Rejects conventional Benthamite view of public
    interest
  • Absolute rights of individuals

5
Intellectual Influences
Thomas Malthus
  • An Essay on the Principles of Population
  • Although his outlook on the problem of
    overpopulation was not quite as pessimistic,
    Spencer believed that overpopulation would lead
    to the survival of the fittest
  • Survival of the fittest had two basic outcomes
  • The excess of fertility could stimulate greater
    activity
  • The conflict for scarcity of goods would
    accelerate into political and territorial
    conflicts

6
Intellectual Influences
Biology
  • Spencer wrote the first volume of the Principles
    of Biology in 1864 and wrote the second in 1867
  • He agreed with post-Newtonian views of science
  • Universal laws exist that could explain the
    phenomena in the world
  • Proposed three propositions
  • The law of persistence force
  • The indestructibility of matter
  • The continuity of motion

7
Intellectual Influences
Biology
  • Spencer acknowledged the role of environmental
    variables on social organization and agreed that
    the Super Organic (society) and the Organism
    (body) had six similarities
  • Society and individuals grow
  • As size increases so does complexity
  • Progression in structure is accompanied by a
    differentiation in function
  • Parts of the whole are interdependent of one
    another
  • Every organism is a society
  • Some parts die, and some parts go on.

8
Intellectual Influences
Charles Darwin
  • Origin of Species in 1859 was welcomed warmly by
    Spencer.
  • Darwins theory of evolution offered Spencer a
    respected intellectual tool for justifying his
    laissez-faire beliefs.
  • Darwins theory of evolution and Spencers
    survival of the fittest concepts have become
    mistakenly interchangeable.
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