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==Life==
==Life==
Spencer was born into a poor but well-educated family. He was home-schooled by his father and his uncle Thomas Spencer, an evangelical clergyman who had been educated at Cambridge University. Starting at age 17 he spent four years as a civil engineer building railways, and the highly systematic engineering mode of analysis characterized his intellectual approaches. He never married.
Spencer was born into a poor but well-educated family. He was home-schooled by his father and his uncle Thomas Spencer, an evangelical clergyman who had been educated at Cambridge University. Starting at age 17 he spent four years as a civil engineer building railways, and the highly systematic engineering mode of analysis characterized his intellectual approaches.
He never married, and after 1855 was a perpetual hypochondriac who complained endlessly of pains and maladies that no physician could diagnose.
Working as a journalist in London, Spencer came to know the leading intellectuals of the day. They were fascinated by his ideas, and amused by his extreme eccentricities. For example, he preached hard work but was notoriously lazy. He preached the survival of the fittest at the same time he thought his own body was being destroyed by mysterious diseases.
==Spencer's ideas==
==Spencer's ideas==
Spencer's ideas appeared first in magazine articles and were published in a series of books that he constantly rewrote and revised. His most important ideas (on evolution, especially) appeared in the 1850s and 1860s, and after 1870 or so he had little new to say.
Spencer's ideas appeared first in magazine articles and were published in a series of books that he constantly rewrote and revised. His most important ideas (on evolution, especially) appeared in the 1850s and 1860s, and after 1870 or so he had little new to say.