CHAPTER VIII 



DARWINIAN AND SPENCERIAN CONCEPTIONS OF 

 EVOLUTION SPENCER 



A cosmic philosophy Resting on correlation of forces And on 

 hypothesis of organic evolution Emphasising natural (physical, 

 material) law Darwinism as a cosmic philosophy ? Alexander 

 Cf. Lotze Cf. Fiske Spencer values true use-inheritance as 

 accounting for a priori knowledge But natural selection is not 

 the source of his laissez fairc doctrine ; he looks forward to a future 

 " balance " His relation to embryology Evolution means grow- 

 ing complexity In terms of matter Two other phases Disso- 

 lution as death As catastrophe Equilibrium is theoretical and 

 prophetic Spencer's sequence of the three phases Criticisms : 

 on the assumed beginning of the process On its isolation On 

 equilibrium, as involving a different point of view Reason is more 

 than a new phase of complexity The whole process breaks up into 

 a series of separate evolutions in complexity 



MR. H. SPENCER'S problem is wider than Darwin's, 

 extending, as it does, to the whole of the phenomenal 

 or " knowable " universe. The impulse to it came 

 from two scientific theories of the age. The first was 

 Grove's proof of the correlation of the physical forces, 

 clenched by Joule's determination of the mechanical 

 equivalent for heat. As a result of this, the inorganic 

 world seemed to gather itself together in one, and to 

 manifest its unity as it had never done before. 

 Phenomenally, the differences remained; heat was 

 heat, light was light, electricity was electricity ; but 



76 



