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WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. PUBLISHED BY D. APPLETON & CO.
WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. PUBLISHED BY D. APPLETON & CO.
EDUCATION—INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. 1 vol., 12mo. Cloth, $1.25. A NEW SYSTEM OF PHILOSOPHY. Vol. I. FIRST PRINCIPLES. Large 12mo. 503 pages. Cloth $2.00. PRINCIPLES OF BIOLOGY. In Quarterly Parts, by Subscription. $2.00 per year. NOW IN PRESS: ESSAYS—MORAL, POLITICAL, AND ÆSTHETIC. 1 vol., large 12mo. Cloth. Copies sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt of price. Entered , according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court
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From the National Quarterly Review (American.)
From the National Quarterly Review (American.)
Comte thus founded social science, and opened a path for future discoverers; but he did not perceive, any more than previous inquirers, the fundamental law of human evolution. It was reserved for Herbert Spencer to discover this all-comprehensive law which is found to explain alike all the phenomena of man's history and all those of external nature. This sublime discovery, that the universe is in a continuous process of evolution from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous, with which only Newton'
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From the Christian Examiner.
From the Christian Examiner.
Reverent and bold—reverent for truth, though not for the forms of truth, and not for much that we hold true—bold in the destruction of error, though without that joy in destruction which often claims the name of boldness;—these works are interesting in themselves and in their relation to the current thought of the time. They seem at first sight to form the turning point in the positive philosophy, but closer examination shows us that it is only a new and marked stage in a regular growth. It is t
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From the New Englander.
From the New Englander.
Though we find here some unwarranted assumptions, as well as some grave omissions, yet this part (Laws of the Knowable) may be considered, upon the whole, as a fine specimen of scientific reasoning. Considerable space is devoted to the "Law of Evolution" the discovery of which is the author's chief claim to originality, and certainly evinces great power of generalization. To quote the abstract definition without a full statement of the inductions from which it is derived would convey no fair imp
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From the North American Review.
From the North American Review.
The law of organic development announced in the early part of the present century, by Goethe, Schelling, and Von Baer, and vaguely expressed in the formula, that "evolution is always from the homogenous to the heterogeneous, and from the simple to the complex," has recently been extended by Herbert Spencer so as to include all phenomena whatsoever. He has shown that this law of evolution is the law of all evolution. Whether it be in the development of the earth or of life upon its surface, in th
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From the Christian Spectator (English).
From the Christian Spectator (English).
Mr. Spencer claims for his view that it is not only a religious position, but preëminently the religious position; and we are most thoroughly disposed to agree with him, though we think he does not appreciate the force of his own argument, nor fully understand his own words. For let us now attempt to realize the meaning of this fact, of which Mr. Spencer and his compeers have put us in possession; let us endeavour to see whether its bearings are really favorable or adverse to religion. They are
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From the Reader.
From the Reader.
To answer the question of the likelihood of the permanence of Mr. Mill's philosophic reign, ... we should have to take account, among other things, of the differences from Mr. Mill already shown by the extraordinarily able and peculiarly original thinker whose name we have associated with Mr. Mill's at the head of this article. We may take occasion, at another time, to call attention to these speculations of Mr. Herbert Spencer, whose works in the meantime, and especially that new one whose titl
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From the British Quarterly Review.
From the British Quarterly Review.
Complete in itself, it is at the same time but a part of a whole, which, if it should be constructed in proportion, will be ten times as great. For these First Principles are merely the foundation of a system of philosophy, bolder, more elaborate and comprehensive, perhaps, than any other which has been hitherto designed in England.... Widely as it will be seen we differ from the author on some points, we very sincerely hope he may succeed in accomplishing the bold and magnificent project he has
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From the Cornhill Magazine.
From the Cornhill Magazine.
Our "Survey," superficial as it is, must include at least the mention of a work so lofty in aim, and so remarkable in execution as the system of Philosophy which Mr. Herbert Spencer is issuing to subscribers.... In spite of all dissidence respecting the conclusions, the serious reader will applaud the profound earnestness and thoroughness with which these conclusions are advocated; the universal scientific knowledge brought to bear on them by way of illustration, and the acute and subtle thinkin
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From the Parthenon.
From the Parthenon.
By these books he has wedged his way into fame in a manner distinctly original, and curiously marked.... There is a peculiar charm in this author's style, in that it sacrifices to no common taste, while at the same time it makes the most abstruse questions intelligible.... The book, if it is to be noticed with the slightest degree of fairness, requires to be read and re-read, to be studied apart from itself and with itself. For whatever may be its ultimate fate—although as the ages go on it shal
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From the Critic.
From the Critic.
Mr. Spencer is the foremost mind of the only philosophical school in England which has arrived at a consistent scheme... Beyond this school we encounter an indolent chaotic eclecticism . Mr. Spencer claims the respect due to distinct and daring individuality; others are echoes or slaves. Mr. Spencer may be a usurper, but he has the voice and gesture of a king....
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From the Medico-Chirurgical Review.
From the Medico-Chirurgical Review.
Mr. Spencer is equally remarkable for his search after first principles; for his acute attempts to decompose mental phenomena into their primary elements; and for his broad generalizations of mental activity, viewed in connection with nature, instinct, and all the analogies presented by life in its universal aspects....
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EDITOR'S PREFACE.
EDITOR'S PREFACE.
The essays contained in the present volume were first published in the English periodicals—chiefly the Quarterly Reviews. They contain ideas of permanent interest, and display an amount of thought and labor evidently much greater than is usually bestowed on review articles. They were written with a view to ultimate republication in an enduring form, and were issued in London with several other papers, under the title of "Essays; Scientific, Political, and Speculative," first and second series;—t
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I.PROGRESS: ITS LAW AND CAUSE.
I.PROGRESS: ITS LAW AND CAUSE.
The current conception of Progress is somewhat shifting and indefinite. Sometimes it comprehends little more than simple growth—as of a nation in the number of its members and the extent of territory over which it has spread. Sometimes it has reference to quantity of material products—as when the advance of agriculture and manufactures is the topic. Sometimes the superior quality of these products is contemplated: and sometimes the new or improved appliances by which they are produced. When, aga
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II. MANNERS AND FASHION.
II. MANNERS AND FASHION.
Whoever has studied the physiognomy of political meetings, cannot fail to have remarked a connection between democratic opinions and peculiarities of costume. At a Chartist demonstration, a lecture on Socialism, or a soirée of the Friends of Italy, there will be seen many among the audience, and a still larger ratio among the speakers, who get themselves up in a style more or less unusual. One gentleman on the platform divides his hair down the centre, instead of on one side; another brushes it
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III. THE GENESIS OF SCIENCE.
III. THE GENESIS OF SCIENCE.
There has ever prevailed among men a vague notion that scientific knowledge differs in nature from ordinary knowledge. By the Greeks, with whom Mathematics—literally things learnt —was alone considered as knowledge proper, the distinction must have been strongly felt; and it has ever since maintained itself in the general mind. Though, considering the contrast between the achievements of science and those of daily unmethodic thinking, it is not surprising that such a distinction has been assumed
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IV. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF LAUGHTER.
IV. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF LAUGHTER.
Why do we smile when a child puts on a man's hat? or what induces us to laugh on reading that the corpulent Gibbon was unable to rise from his knees after making a tender declaration? The usual reply to such questions is, that laughter results from a perception of incongruity. Even were there not on this reply the obvious criticism that laughter often occurs from extreme pleasure or from mere vivacity, there would still remain the real problem—How comes a sense of the incongruous to be followed
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V. THE ORIGIN AND FUNCTION OF MUSIC
V. THE ORIGIN AND FUNCTION OF MUSIC
When Carlo, standing, chained to his kennel, sees his master in the distance, a slight motion of the tail indicates his but faint hope that he is about to be let out. A much more decided wagging of the tail, passing by-and-by into lateral undulations of the body, follows his master's nearer approach. When hands are laid on his collar, and he knows that he is really to have an outing, his jumping and wriggling are such that it is by no means easy to loose his fastenings. And when he finds himself
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VI. THE NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS.
VI. THE NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS.
Inquiring into the pedigree of an idea is not a bad means of roughly estimating its value. To have come of respectable ancestry, is primâ facie evidence of worth in a belief as in a person; while to be descended from a discreditable stock is, in the one case as in the other, an unfavorable index. The analogy is not a mere fancy. Beliefs, together with those who hold them, are modified little by little in successive generations; and as the modifications which successive generations of the holders
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VII. BAIN ON THE EMOTIONS AND THE WILL.
VII. BAIN ON THE EMOTIONS AND THE WILL.
After the controversy between the Neptunists and the Vulcanists had been long carried on without definite results, there came a reaction against all speculative geology. Reasoning without adequate data having led to nothing, inquirers went into the opposite extreme, and confining themselves wholly to collecting data, relinquished reasoning. The Geological Society of London was formed with the express object of accumulating evidence; for many years hypotheses were forbidden at its meetings; and o
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VIII. ILLOGICAL GEOLOGY.
VIII. ILLOGICAL GEOLOGY.
That proclivity to generalization which is possessed in greater or less degree by all minds, and without which, indeed, intelligence cannot exist, has unavoidable inconveniences. Through it alone can truth be reached; and yet it almost inevitably betrays into error. But for the tendency to predicate of every other case, that which has been found in the observed cases, there could be no rational thinking; and yet by this indispensable tendency, men are perpetually led to found, on limited experie
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IX. THE DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS.
IX. THE DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS.
In a debate upon the development hypothesis, lately narrated to me by a friend, one of the disputants was described as arguing, that as, in all our experience, we know no such phenomenon as transmutation of species, it is unphilosophical to assume that transmutation of species ever takes place. Had I been present, I think that, passing over his assertion, which is open to criticism, I should have replied that, as in all our experience we have never known a species created , it was, by his own sh
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X. THE SOCIAL ORGANISM.
X. THE SOCIAL ORGANISM.
Sir James Macintosh got great credit for the saying, that "constitutions are not made, but grow." In our day, the most significant thing about this saying is, that it was ever thought so significant. As from the surprise displayed by a man at some familiar fact, you may judge of his general culture; so from the admiration which an age accords to a new thought, its average degree of enlightenment may be inferred. That this apophthegm of Macintosh should have been quoted and re-quoted as it has, s
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XI. USE AND BEAUTY
XI. USE AND BEAUTY
In one of his essays, Emerson remarks, that what Nature at one time provides for use, she afterwards turns to ornament; and he cites in illustration the structure of a sea-shell, in which the parts that have for a while formed the mouth are at the next season of growth left behind, and become decorative nodes and spines. It has often occurred to me that this same remark might be extended to the progress of Humanity. Here, too, the appliances of one era serve as embellishments to the next. Equall
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XII. THE SOURCES OF ARCHITECTURAL TYPES.
XII. THE SOURCES OF ARCHITECTURAL TYPES.
When lately looking through the gallery of the Old Water-Colour Society, I was struck with the incongruity produced by putting regular architecture into irregular scenery. In one case, where the artist had introduced a perfectly symmetrical Grecian edifice into a mountainous and somewhat wild landscape, the discordant effect was particularly marked. "How very unpicturesque," said a lady to her friend, as they passed; showing that I was not alone in my opinion. Her phrase, however, set me specula
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XIII. THE USE OF ANTHROPOMORPHISM.
XIII. THE USE OF ANTHROPOMORPHISM.
That long fit of indignation which seizes all generous natures when in youth they begin contemplating human affairs, having fairly spent itself, there slowly grows up a perception that the institutions, beliefs, and forms so vehemently condemned are not wholly bad. This reaction runs to various lengths. In some, merely to a comparative contentment with the arrangements under which they live. In others to a recognition of the fitness that exists between each people and its government, tyrannical
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