IM 



SPENTER 



deeply versed in the general facts ntul philosophy 

 of the sciences, the biological branches in particu- 

 lar, and stored his mind with a much greater mass 

 of data titan he could have gained by original ob- 

 servation. 



This coursoof widestndy and independent thought 

 next led to the resolution of developing a new sys- 

 tem of philosophy, with tin- principle of evolution as 

 its underlying basis and the discoveries of modern 

 science as its supporting walls and columns. In 

 1859 he drew up in detail the plan of a series of 

 works in which his philosophical system was to be 

 embodied. This plan embraced ten volumes, to the 

 completion of which he proposed to devote twenty 

 years. It included studies of the principles of nat- 

 ure considered generally, and in their special appli- 

 cation to the phenomena of life, of the mind, of 

 society, and of ethics, the whole subject being elab- 

 orated at this early period in the author's thoughts, 

 divided into topics, and projected in the prospectus 

 published in 1860 almost prenisely as it has been 

 carried out in his subsequent works. He saw it all 

 at a glance. It has token half a lifetime to explain 

 it to the world. 



Spencer's prospectus appeared in the same year 

 as Darwin's celebrated contribution to the evolution- 

 ary hypothesis, and the view which many entertain, 

 that Darwin devised this hyjiothesis and that Spen- 

 cer has but unfolded and applied it, is utterly incor- 

 rect. Darwin lays no claim to the authorship of the 

 theory of evolution. What he did was to advance 

 the " natural selection " hypothesis of development, 

 a principle which has been widely adopted by sci- 

 entists, and which Spencer has made much use of in 

 his striking phrase " survival of the fittest." But 

 his philosophy was fully developed in his mind, and 

 partly in his writings, before Darwin had published 

 a word on the subject, though umjnestiormbly the 

 hypothesis advanced by the latter author hits been 

 utilized by Spencer in the explication of his philo- 

 sophical idea. 



The first volume of the projected system was pub- 

 lished in 18G2, under the title of First Principles. 

 It is divided into two parts : 1, " The Unknowable ; " 

 and, 2, " The Laws of the Knowable." In the first 

 part the author maintains that human knowledge. 

 has its necessary limits, beyond which it can never 

 advance, and that there is an unknown power which 

 must remain forever beyond the reach of man's con- 

 ceptions. To this power he gives no name and says 

 nothing as to its possible intelligence or non-intelli- 

 gence, declaring that its qualities, conditions, and 

 relations are utterly beyond the grasp of human 

 thought, and that speculation concerning them is 

 and must forever remain idle. This doctrine of tho 

 " unknowable" is not an essential part of his system 

 of philosophy proper. It has been strongly com- 

 bated, and some of its conclusions seem invalidated. 

 In the " Laws of the Knowable" Spencer lays down 

 the basic principles of his system as applicable to 

 the general phenomena of matter, motion, and force, 

 declaring that in all the details of nature a law of 

 gradual development has steadily acted, all things 

 advancing step by step from tho general to the par- 

 ticular, from the unconditioned to tho conditioned, 

 until, from a simple, homogeneous, uniform, nnd 

 generalized state of the universe, there has arisen, 

 through evolutionary processes and solely under the 

 influence of natural laws and forces, a complex, het- 

 erogeneous, multiform, ami socialized state. To 

 illustrate his theory in simpler fonn, the original 

 diffused and homogeneous fire-mist of the planets 

 Las become develoj>ed into spheres uf extraordinary 

 diversity of conditions, matter having lost its origi- 

 nal uniformity, and become the wonderfully varied 

 combination of mineral, plant, animal, intellectual, 

 and moral conditions which now exist upon the 



earth's surface. It may be said here that Spencer 

 uses a phraseology which renders the comprehension 

 of his system very difficult to many readers; that it 

 is by no means presented in the simplicity of which 

 it was susceptible. 



In The J'rinaples / Biology (2 vols., 18G7) tho 

 evolutionary hypothesis is applied to, and illustrated 

 by, the facts of animal and vegetable life. In 1872 

 appeared lite Princijii-:* <f nyekttogf (2 vols. ), in 

 which the evolution of mentality is reviewed and il- 

 lustrated. This work is in great measure an out- 

 growth of his treatise of 1855, being in some respects 

 a second edition of that work, though with much ex- 

 pansion and a broader grasp of tho principles ad- 

 vocated. Continued ill-health, which has gio\\u 

 more disabling of recent years, together with much 

 writing aside from his main purpose, has prevent- 

 ed Spencer from completing his work within tho 

 twenty years originally allotted. Of the J'riticipies 

 of Sociology, but two volumes of tho requisite three 

 have appeared ; while the Principles if Momlily, de- 

 signed to be in two volumes, is at present partly rep- 

 resented by a treatise entitled The J><itn uf Ethics. 

 In the former of these the laws of society are sought 

 to be deduced from the facts of social and political 

 science, while the latter seeks to deduce the laws of 

 human conduct from man's relations to nature and 

 his fellows, and the scientific investigation of tho 

 growth of tho sense of duty, conscience, and moral 

 obligation. 



The completion of this work has also been delayi d 

 by tho general prejudice against the author's views, 

 while yet he was obliged to make a living by his 

 pen. As no publisher could bo readily found for tho 

 work when first proposed, the author decided to bo- 

 come his own publisher, and to issue the work iu 

 quarterly parts by annual subscription. Tho vol- 

 umes, as they appeared, met with strong opposition 

 and much adverse criticism, their views of nature 

 being so radically unlike those before prevailing as 

 to disturb all the relations of preceding philosophi- 

 cal and religious thought. S]>encer, however, lias 

 gradually gained a large following, and in the quar- 

 ter-con.! ury that has passed since the publicutioii of 

 tho first volume of the series, there have been re- 

 markable changes of geneial opinion upon tho deep- 

 est subjects of human contemplation. These changes 

 have undoubtedly in very considerable measure been 

 duo to his philosophy, and to the scientific theories 

 of Darwin, with the concurrent views of numerous 

 later authors. 



All that Spencer has written since the publication 

 of his prospectus bears somewhat directly on his* 

 evolutionary system. Of these separate works, Edu- 

 cation: Iiitellectu.nl, Moral, find Physical, a series of 

 reprinted papers, written in a style of unusual ease 

 and fluency for him, has been one of the most popu- 

 lar. In opposition to tho old system of teaching by 

 rote, it advocates methods in which the curiosity of 

 tho pupil is excited, his observation strong; 1 

 and his judgment constantly appealed to. This wa* 

 indeed the method of teaching employed by Spen- 

 cer's father, and under which his school life was 

 passed, and he was well aware of its efficacy from 

 boyhood. Since the ap|>earance of his work a 

 steady improvement has taken place in educational 

 methods, both in England and the United States, in 

 the directioij which he jxjintsout. To this improve- 

 ment his work has undoubtedly contributed, though 

 other influential writers took part with him in advo- 

 cating radical changes in education. 



Of his other publications may be named Classifica- 

 tion of the Sciences (1804), in which he states his rea- 

 sons for dissenting from M. Comte ; Spontaneous 

 Generation, and the Hypothesis of Physiological Unit* 

 (1870); The Slttdy of Sociology, in 'the "Interna- 

 tional Scientific Series" (1872); and The Coming 



