Difference between revisions of "Herbert Spencer"

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* Harris, Jose. "Spencer, Herbert (1820–1903)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,''(2004) [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36208 online], a standard short biography  
 
* Harris, Jose. "Spencer, Herbert (1820–1903)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,''(2004) [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36208 online], a standard short biography  
 
* Taylor, Michael W. ''The Philosophy of Herbert Spencer''  (Continuum Studies in British Philosophy) (2007) [http://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Herbert-Spencer-Continuum-Studies/dp/0826487238/ref=pd_bbs_11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222727400&sr=8-11 excerpt and text search]
 
* Taylor, Michael W. ''The Philosophy of Herbert Spencer''  (Continuum Studies in British Philosophy) (2007) [http://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Herbert-Spencer-Continuum-Studies/dp/0826487238/ref=pd_bbs_11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222727400&sr=8-11 excerpt and text search]
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*Taylor, Michael W., ''Men versus the State: Herbert Spencer and Late Victorian Individualism''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
 
* Weinstein, David. ''Equal Freedom and Utility: Herbert Spencer's Liberal Utilitarianism.'' (1998) 235p.  
 
* Weinstein, David. ''Equal Freedom and Utility: Herbert Spencer's Liberal Utilitarianism.'' (1998) 235p.  
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* Weinstein, David.  *[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/spencer/ Herbert Spencer] in ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''
 
===Primary sources===
 
===Primary sources===
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* [http://oll.libertyfund.org/Home3/Author.php?recordID=0236 Most of Spencer's books are available online]
 
* Spencer, Herbert. ''Spencer: Political Writings'' (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought) edited by John Offer (1993) [http://www.amazon.com/Spencer-Political-Writings-Cambridge-History/dp/0521437407/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222727400&sr=8-4 excerpt and text search]
 
* Spencer, Herbert. ''Spencer: Political Writings'' (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought) edited by John Offer (1993) [http://www.amazon.com/Spencer-Political-Writings-Cambridge-History/dp/0521437407/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222727400&sr=8-4 excerpt and text search]
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* Spencer, Herbert. ''Social Statics: The Man Versus the State''
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* Spencer, Herbert. ''Social Statics: The Man Versus the State'' (1850)
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**''Social Statics'' (1851) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=96054973 abridged version]
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* Spencer, Herbert.  ''[http://praxeology.net/HS-SP.htm System of Synthetic Philosophy]'' (1860)]
 
* Spencer, Herbert. '' The study of sociology'' [http://www.amazon.com/study-sociology-Herbert-Spencer/dp/1418188417/ref=pd_bbs_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222727400&sr=8-7 excerpt and text search]; also [http://www.questia.com/read/96277756?title=The%20Study%20of%20Sociology full text online free]
 
* Spencer, Herbert. '' The study of sociology'' [http://www.amazon.com/study-sociology-Herbert-Spencer/dp/1418188417/ref=pd_bbs_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222727400&sr=8-7 excerpt and text search]; also [http://www.questia.com/read/96277756?title=The%20Study%20of%20Sociology full text online free]
 
* Spencer, Herbert. ''The Principles of Psychology'' [http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Psychology-1-Herbert-Spencer/dp/1402182716/ref=pd_bbs_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222727400&sr=8-8 excerpt and text search]; [http://books.google.com/books?id=hTBVAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:herbert+inauthor:spencer&lr=&num=30&as_brr=3 full text online]
 
* Spencer, Herbert. ''The Principles of Psychology'' [http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Psychology-1-Herbert-Spencer/dp/1402182716/ref=pd_bbs_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222727400&sr=8-8 excerpt and text search]; [http://books.google.com/books?id=hTBVAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:herbert+inauthor:spencer&lr=&num=30&as_brr=3 full text online]
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* Spencer, Herbert. ''Social Statics, Abridged and Revised: Together with the Man Versus the State'' (1896), highly influential among libertarians [http://www.questia.com/read/96054973?title=Social%20Statics%2c%20Abridged%20and%20Revised%3a%20Together%20with%20the%20Man%20Versus%20the%20State full text online free]
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* Spencer, Herbert. ''Social Statics, Abridged and Revised: Together with the Man Versus the State'' (1896), highly influential among libertarians [http://www.questia.com/read/96054973?title=Social%20Statics%2c%20Abridged%20and%20Revised%3a%20Together%20with%20the%20Man%20Versus%20the%20State full text online free]
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* Spencer, Herbert.  [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=96054973 ''The Man Versus the State'' (1884)]
 
* Spencer, Herbert. ''Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical'' (1891) 283pp [http://books.google.com/books?id=gztMAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:herbert+inauthor:spencer&lr=&num=30&as_brr=3 full text online]
 
* Spencer, Herbert. ''Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical'' (1891) 283pp [http://books.google.com/books?id=gztMAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:herbert+inauthor:spencer&lr=&num=30&as_brr=3 full text online]
 
* Spencer, Herbert. ''An Autobiography'' (1905, 2 vol) [http://books.google.com/books?id=gUozqCwTGkEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:herbert+inauthor:spencer&lr=&num=30&as_brr=3 full text online]
 
* Spencer, Herbert. ''An Autobiography'' (1905, 2 vol) [http://books.google.com/books?id=gUozqCwTGkEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:herbert+inauthor:spencer&lr=&num=30&as_brr=3 full text online]
 
* [http://books.google.com/books?as_q=&num=30&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_brr=3&lr=&as_vt=&as_auth=herbert+spencer&as_pub=&as_sub=&as_drrb=c&as_miny=&as_maxy=&as_isbn= online writings of Spencer]
 
* [http://books.google.com/books?as_q=&num=30&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_brr=3&lr=&as_vt=&as_auth=herbert+spencer&as_pub=&as_sub=&as_drrb=c&as_miny=&as_maxy=&as_isbn= online writings of Spencer]
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==External links==
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* [http://www.constitution.org/hs/ignore_state.htm The Right to Ignore the State] by Herbert Spencer.
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*[http://www.bolender.com/Dr.%20Ron/SOC4044%20Sociological%20Theory/Class%20Sessions/Sociological%20Theory/Spencer,%20Herbert/spencer,_herbert.htm Extensive biography and overview of works]
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*[http://www.bolender.com/Sociological%20Theory/Spencer,%20Herbert/spencer,_herbert.htm Review materials for studying Herbert Spencer]
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* [http://books.google.com/books?as_q=&num=30&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_brr=3&lr=&as_vt=&as_auth=herbert+spencer&as_pub=&as_sub=&as_drrb=c&as_miny=&as_maxy=&as_isbn= online writings of Spencer]
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==Notes==
 
==Notes==
 
<references/>
 
<references/>

Revision as of 13:30, September 30, 2008

Herbert Spencer (April 27, 1820 – December 8, 1903) was an English philosopher and prominent liberal political theorist. He had an encyclopedic range, writing on topics of politics, economics, sociology, biology, psychology and anthropology. His main theme was that powerful forces of social evolution were systematically making mankind better and better. In politics he was a libertarian opposed to government intervention of any sort.

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.[1] He never married.

Religion

Although raised in a devout Methodist family, he never joined a church. He was a defender of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, and coined the terms "the Survival of the fittest"[2] and "the Descent of Man." Spencer, like many scientists of the time, was a deist, which is to say he did not believe in God per se, but only in a god. Eventually, Spencer became an agnostic.

Influence

Spencer had a major influence on world thinkers in Europe, Asia and Latin America, especially British and American thinkers of the 1870s, including such prominent conservatives as Andrew Carnegie and William Graham Sumner. Spencer's influence faded in Britain and America after 1900.


Spencer is largely remembered today for his theories of social Darwinism, the idea that evolutionary ideas applied to societies as well as people. Spencer developed his ideas before Darwin, and "social darwinism" dealt only with the progressive betterment of human society.

Bibliography

  • Carneiro, Robert L. and Perrin, Robert G. "Herbert Spencer's 'Principles of Sociology:' a Centennial Retrospective and Appraisal." Annals of Science 2002 59(3): 221-261 online at Ebsco
  • Duncan, David. The life and letters of Herbert Spencer (1908) online edition
  • Francis, Mark. Herbert Spencer and the Invention of Modern Life. (2007) 464p.
  • Harris, Jose. "Spencer, Herbert (1820–1903)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,(2004) online, a standard short biography
  • Taylor, Michael W. The Philosophy of Herbert Spencer (Continuum Studies in British Philosophy) (2007) excerpt and text search
  • Taylor, Michael W., Men versus the State: Herbert Spencer and Late Victorian Individualism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
  • Weinstein, David. Equal Freedom and Utility: Herbert Spencer's Liberal Utilitarianism. (1998) 235p.
  • Weinstein, David. *Herbert Spencer in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Primary sources

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ He was not the engineer of a train.
  2. ↑ fit - meaning suitable, or the right size and shape, not fit as in athletically strong (although some have inferred this interpretation).
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