INTRODUCTION 



Philosophy. Fiske was from the very begin- 

 ning of this period acquainted with both these 

 forms of evolutionary theory. The concept of 

 evolution, in the form which Darwin gave it, 

 was an affair of natural history, and fell within 

 the province of the special sciences. But in 

 the form which Spencer gave it, it was a gen- 

 eral philosophical theory about the nature and 

 origin of the whole knowable universe. Fiske 

 was always a great admirer of Darwin, and was 

 acquainted with the " Origin of Species " al- 

 most from its first appearance ; but it was the 

 philosophical theory of evolution, viewed in 

 its widest sense, that interested him most, and 

 that received his warmest adherence. Darwin 

 he honoured as the naturalist — but Spencer 

 he followed, in his own early publications, as 

 his master. The reason, however, for Fiske*s 

 great personal interest in the larger philoso- 

 phical implications of the doctrine of evolution 

 was one determined by his own individual con- 

 cern, as a thinker, in the problems of life and 

 of the universe. Even where he most appeared 

 as Spencer*s disciple, he was therefore never a 

 mere echo. He had never been a mere con- 

 vert to Spencer's theories. And we cannot 

 well understand the use that Fiske later made 

 of his evolutionary views, and in particular we 

 cannot understand how he applied the doctrine 

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