1820-1903

"Every man is free to do thatwhich he wills, provided he infringes not the equal freedom of any other man."

• Born in Derby, England on April 27, 1820• Weak & sickly child.• Father (George) was a teacher.• Had no formal education.• Father taught him Sciences and Math,

but education was weak in other areas.• Father taught Spencer from an extremist

nonconformist perspective.

Father was unkind to his mother. Herbert thought of his mother as

“simple-minded.” Uncle Thomas taught principles of

philosophical radicalism. Entire family very nonconformist and

individualistic.

Worked as civil engineer for railway. Found fossils while doing railway

work• Sparked interest in evolution.

Eventually quit job to pursue other interests.

Began to publish articles in the radical press:• Argued for extreme restrictions on

government.• Against welfare.• Against national education.• Against established church.

Became subeditor with London Economist• Laissez-faire beliefs

1851- finished 1st book Social Statics• Power should be given to whole society.

• Lays the basis for a limited state. During writing he began to experience

insomnia, began smoking opium to cope• Could only work a few hours a day.

• Suffered from nervous breakdowns.

Uncle died and left Spencer money. 1855- 2nd book The Principles of

Psychology• Grounded psychology in evolutionary

biology

• Different parts of the cerebrum subserve different kinds of mental action.

• Very complex. Soon after second book, he suffered

from a nervous illness.

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)

Cultural evolution• Humans adapt to environmental changes

through our culture rather than biological adaptation.

• Could not be stopped

Importance of minimal government intervention.

Benefits of the individualism and the industrial Revolution

Social Evolution

Societal Complexity• Increase in social aggregates accompanied

by an increase in the complexity of structure. Differentiation of Functions

• Creation of specialized social roles and institutions leading to an interdependence of the parts of society

Adaptive upgrading conditioned by:• 1. External factors• 2. Internal factors• 3. Derived factors

Growth, Structure, and Differentiation

Society development Social institutions arise from

structural requirements Division of labor

Functionalism

Coined the term, not Darwin Eliminates unfavorable variations of

species Focused on both biological and social

processes Cold-hearted toward poor, widowed,

and orphaned

Survival of The Fittest

Two classifications of society• 1. Militant & industrial

• 2. Level of integration Society was similar to an organism General law of organization

• Common to both biological and social organism

Structure of a military Purpose of a military

• Not to conquer other nations

War and Militarism

Equal liberty principle• Broadly utilitarianism view

• Goal of human action

Rejects conventional Benthamite view of public interest• Absolute rights of individuals

Utilitarianism

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

1. The excess of fertility could stimulate greater activity

2. The conflict for scarcity of goods would accelerate into political and territorial conflicts

Thomas Malthus

Reading Lewes’ work provided Spencer with the general background of philosophical thought

Von Baer’s principles allowed Spencer to organize his ideas on biological, psychological, and social evolution

George Lewes &Karl Von Baer

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:

1.The law of persistence force2.The indestructibility of matter3.The continuity of motion

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:1. Society and individuals grow2. As size increases so does complexity3. Progression in structure is accompanied by a

differentiation in function4. Parts of the whole are interdependent of one another5. Every organism is a society6. Some parts die, and some parts go on.

Biology

Spencer did however, feel that there were some distinct differences between an organism and society:

1. The degree of connectedness

2. Communication

3. Differences in Consciousness

Biology

A lifelong friend of Spencer’s. Introduced Spencer to many scientific

facts. Was also known as Darwin’s

“bulldog,” his most vocal supporter and defender.

Thomas Huxley

Origin of Species in 1859 was welcomed warmly by Spencer.

Darwin’s theory of evolution offered Spencer a respected intellectual tool for justifying his laissez-faire beliefs.

Darwin’s theory of evolution and Spencer’s survival of the fittest concepts have become mistakenly interchangeable.

Charles Darwin

Spencer was not overly impressed with Comte.

Areas of agreement between Comte and Spencer:1. Knowledge comes from positive methods2. There are invariable laws in the universe that can be

discovered and utilized3. The different branches of knowledge form a rational

whole. 4. Social phenomena form an interdependent whole5. Both developed theories of evolution and progress6. Spencer accepted Comte’s term of sociology for the

science of superorganic bodies. 7. Spencer reluctantly gave credit to Comte for

reintroducing the organismic analogy back into thought.

Auguste Comte

Spencer disagreed with Comte on the following issues:1. Societies passed through three distinct stages.2. Causality is less important than the building of social theory.3. Government can use the laws of sociology to reconstruct society4. Sciences have developed in a particular order.5. Psychology is merely a subdiscipline of biology.6. Spencer especially disagreed with Comte’s sense of a positivist

religion and sociologist-priests.7. Concerning the emphasis of evolutionary thought; where Comte

was focused on the evolution of ideas, Spencer was interested in structural (and functional) evolution.

8. Comte believed that individuals could be taught morality, largely through the positivist religion, but Spencer ridiculed the idea that morality could be taught by any means, let alone religion or the government.

In short, Spencer is an individualist, whereas Comte is a combination of liberal-individualist and conservative-collectivist

Auguste Comte

DNA Industrialization Militant and industrial analysis still

valid today Survival of the fittest

• Social encounters One should never be satisfied with

simply surviving

Realism vs. Idealism Idealism- Held that we cannot know the

nature of reality in itself

Realism vs. Nominalism Nominalism- Believes that abstract

concepts are a social construction (i.e. society)