604 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



SOCIAL EVOLUTION. 



By Peof. J. E. CAIENES. 1 



ANXIOUS as all who take an interest in social speculation can- 

 not fail to be for the completion of Mr. Spencer's forthcoming 

 work on the " Principles of Sociology," they will scarcely regret that 

 he should have allowed himself to be drawn aside for a time from his 

 principal occupation in order to compose the present volume. Sev- 

 eral reasons concur to make it desirable that such an avant-coureur 

 should be sent forth ; but it is sufficient here to mention one. With 

 every possible disposition to acknowledge the great services of M. 

 Comte in his masterly ebauche and partial development of the science 

 of society, it is impossible not to see that even the elementary princi- 

 ples of this branch of inquiry have yet to be formulated. To consti- 

 tute these, or at least some portion of them, is doubtless the aim of 

 Mr. Spencer's grand undertaking. It is to this that the labors of his 

 life have been leading up ; but, if his work is to prove in any sense 

 definitive, it is plainly an indispensable condition that it should be pre- 

 ceded by a tolerably full and thorough discussion of the more element- 

 ary doctrines of the new science. Mr. Spencer has not, indeed, waited 

 till now to give the world his ideas on many social topics of the high- 

 est importance ; but it was well thus to bring together into a single 

 volume his sociological views scattered over many essays, and, by 

 giving them fresh exposition and illustration, to invite fresh criticism. 

 Never before has the conception of a social science been put forth with 

 equal distinctness and clearness ; and never has its claim to take rank 

 as a recognized branch of scientific investigation been placed upon 

 surer grounds, or asserted with more just emphasis. The wealth of 

 illustration lavished on the various topics discussed is almost marvel- 

 ous ; and, when one considers that Mr. Spencer has already on hand 

 a great work on the same subject, augurs a rare profusion of resources. 

 The purpose of the present essay, however, is not to render to Mr. 

 Spencer a homage of which he has no need, but to invite attention to 

 some positions of his philosophical system, so far as it has been given 

 to the public, which have scarcely yet received that amount of con- 

 sideration and criticism which their great importance demands. As 

 will be seen, and indeed has already appeared, the following remarks 

 have been conceived from the point of view of one who fully accepts 

 the possibility of a social science, and who, to a large extent, concurs 

 in Mr. Spencer's conception of the nature of that inquiry. 



The part of Mr. Spencer's social philosophy to which he has hith- 

 erto given most prominence, and which he has elaborated with most 

 care, is his doctrine of Social Evolution. The idea was put forward 

 1 A review of " The Study of Sociology," by Herbert Spencer. D. Applcton & Co. 



