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REGIUS PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN AUTHOR OF THE STUDY OF ANIMAL LIFE; THE SCIENCE OF LIFE; OUTLINES OF ZOOLOGY; PROGRESS OF SCIENCE; ETC. ETC.
REGIUS PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN AUTHOR OF THE STUDY OF ANIMAL LIFE; THE SCIENCE OF LIFE; OUTLINES OF ZOOLOGY; PROGRESS OF SCIENCE; ETC. ETC.
PUBLISHED IN LONDON BY J. M. DENT & CO. AND IN NEW YORK BY E. P. DUTTON & CO. 1906 PAGE Introduction vii CHAP. I. Heredity 1 II. Nurture 7 III. Period of Practical Work 17 IV. Preparation for Life-Work 27 V. Thinking out the Synthetic Philosophy 37 VI. Characteristics: Physical and Intellectual 52 VII. Characteristics: Emotional and Ethical 74 VIII. Spencer as Biologist: The Data of Biology 93 IX. Spencer as Biologist: Inductions of Biology 110 X. Spencer as Champion of the Evolu
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
This volume attempts to give a short account of Herbert Spencer's life, an appreciation of his characteristics, and a statement of some of the services he rendered to science. Prominence has been given to his Autobiography , to his Principles of Biology , and to his position as a cosmic evolutionist; but little has been said of his psychology and sociology, which require another volume, or of his ethics and politics, or of his agnosticism—the whetstone of so many critics. Our appreciation of Spe
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HEREDITY
HEREDITY
Ancestry—Grandparents—Uncles—Parents Remarkable parents often have commonplace children, and a genius may be born to a very ordinary couple, yet the importance of pedigree is so patent that our first question in regard to a great man almost invariably concerns his ancestry. In Herbert Spencer's case the question is rewarded. Ancestry. —From the information afforded by the Autobiography in regard to ancestry remoter than grandparents, we learn that, on both sides of the house, Spencer came of a s
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NURTURE
NURTURE
Boyhood—School—At Hinton—At Home Herbert Spencer was born at Derby on the 27th of April 1820. His father and mother had married early in the preceding year, at the age of about 29 and 25 respectively. Except a little sister, a year his junior, who lived for two years, he was practically the only child, for of the five infants who followed none lived more than a few days. As Spencer pathetically remarks: "It was one of my misfortunes to have no brothers, and a still greater misfortune to have no
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PERIOD OF PRACTICAL WORK
PERIOD OF PRACTICAL WORK
Engineering—Many Inventions—Glimpse of Evolution-Idea—A Resting Period—Beginning to Write—Experimenting with Life Herbert Spencer's life after boyhood may be conveniently divided into four periods:— 1. For about ten years he was engaged in varied practical work—surveying, plan-making, engineering, secretarial business, and superintendence (1837-1846). 2. After an unattached couple of years, during which he continued his self-education, experimented, invented, and meditated, there began a period
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PREPARATION FOR LIFE-WORK
PREPARATION FOR LIFE-WORK
More Inventions—Sub-editing—Avowal of Evolutionism—Friendships—Books and Essays—Crystallisation of his Thought—Settling to Life-work Thrown out of regular employment once more, Spencer was left free for a time to follow his own bent. He lived a "miscellaneous and rather futile kind of life," reading a little and thinking much over a proposed book on Social Statics, holidaying a good deal and trying in vain to make money by inventions. More Inventions. —In 1845 he had a scheme of quasi-aerial loc
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THINKING OUT THE SYNTHETIC PHILOSOPHY
THINKING OUT THE SYNTHETIC PHILOSOPHY
Thinking by Stratagem—The System Grows—Difficulties—Italy—Habits of Work—Sociology—Ill-health—Citizenship—Visit to America—Closing Years Having theoretically secured the requisite number of subscribers to the projected series of volumes, Spencer tried to settle down to "something like unity of occupation." In the Spring of 1860 he began the First Principles —only to break down before he had finished the first chapter; and the same depressing experience was continually repeated. Fortunately for S
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CHARACTERISTICS:—PHYSICAL AND INTELLECTUAL
CHARACTERISTICS:—PHYSICAL AND INTELLECTUAL
The Autobiography—Physical Characteristics—Intellectual Characteristics—Limitations—Development of Spencer's Mind—Methods of Work—Genius? Spencer was much given to summing up what he called the "traits" of the men he met, and he extended the process to himself in his Autobiography , which is an elaborate piece of self-portraiture. The Autobiography. —Some one has called autobiography the least credible form of fiction, but that is not the impression which Spencer's gives. His self-analysis is ca
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CHARACTERISTICS: EMOTIONAL AND ETHICAL
CHARACTERISTICS: EMOTIONAL AND ETHICAL
Emotional—The Genius Loci—Poetry—Science and Poetry—Art—Humour—Callousness—Nature—Human Relations—Fundamental Motives Emotional. —Spencer found great delight in scenery and sunsets; he enjoyed music within certain limits; he was very fond of children, but he was essentially a man of thought, not of feeling or of action. The scientific mood dominated him, the artistic and practical moods were in abeyance. Although he delighted in imaginative construction, he does not seem to have had much imagina
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SPENCER AS BIOLOGIST—THE DATA OF BIOLOGY
SPENCER AS BIOLOGIST—THE DATA OF BIOLOGY
The Principles of Biology—Organic Matter—Metabolism—Definition of Life—The Dynamic Element in Life—Life and Mechanism The Principles of Biology. —If there is any book that will save a naturalist from being easy-going it is Spencer's Principles of Biology . It is a biological classic, which, in its range and intensity, finds no parallel except in Haeckel's greatest and least known work, the Generelle Morphologie , which was published in 1866 about the same time as the Principles . As one of our f
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SPENCER AS BIOLOGIST: INDUCTIONS OF BIOLOGY
SPENCER AS BIOLOGIST: INDUCTIONS OF BIOLOGY
Growth—Development—Structure and Function—Waste and Repair—Adaptation—Cell-Life—Genesis—Nutrition and Reproduction—The Germ-Cells Growth. —Perhaps the widest and most familiar induction of Biology, is that organisms grow. But there is growth in crystals, in terrestrial deposits, in celestial bodies; in fact, growth, as being an integration of matter, is the primary trait of evolution; it is universal, in the sense that all aggregates display it in some way at some period. "The essential communit
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HERBERT SPENCER AS CHAMPION OF THE EVOLUTION-IDEA
HERBERT SPENCER AS CHAMPION OF THE EVOLUTION-IDEA
The Evolution-Idea—Spencer's Historical Position—Von Baer's Law—Evolution and Creation—Arguments for the Evolution-Doctrine Spencer has been called "the philosopher of the Evolution-movement," but the appropriateness of this description depends on what is meant by philosopher. What is certain is that he championed the evolutionist interpretation at a time when it was as much tabooed as it is now fashionable; that he showed its applicability to all orders of facts—inorganic, organic, and super-or
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AS REGARDS HEREDITY
AS REGARDS HEREDITY
Problems of Heredity—Physiological Units—A Digression—The Germ-Cells—Transmission of Acquired Characters—Inconceivability—A Priori Argument—Practical Conclusion Heredity is the relation of genetic continuity which links generation to generation. An inheritance is all that the organism is or has to start with on its life-journey in virtue of the hereditary relation to parents and ancestors. In all ordinary cases, the inheritance has its initial material basis in the egg-cell and the sperm-cell wh
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FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION
FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION
Variation—Selection—Isolation—Spencer's Contribution—External Factors—Internal Factors—Direct Equilibration—Indirect Equilibration Darwin rendered three great services to evolution-doctrine, (1) By his marshalling of the evidences which suggest the doctrine of descent, he won the conviction of the biological world. (2) He applied the evolution-idea to various sets of facts, not only to the origin of species in general, but to the difficult case of Man; not only to the origin of the countless ada
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EVOLUTION UNIVERSAL
EVOLUTION UNIVERSAL
The Starting-point—Inorganic Evolution—What Spencer tried to do—Summary of his Evolutionism—Notes and Queries—The Origin of Life—Evolution of Mind—Ascent of Man—The Scientific Position Every attempt to describe how our world has come to be as it is must begin somewhere. It must postulate an initial state of Being from which to start any particular chapter in the story of Becoming. How the simplest conceivable raw material began—if it ever began—the evolutionist cannot tell. The Starting-point. —
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PSYCHOLOGICAL
PSYCHOLOGICAL
Evolution of Mind—Body and Mind—Experience and Intuitions—Test of Truth In seeking to appreciate Spencer's contributions to Psychology, it seems necessary to distinguish between what he tried to do and his success in doing it. For an attempt, especially a pioneer attempt, may have great historical importance although it is only to a limited degree successful. The attempts to cross a continent, or to scale a mountain, to make a flying machine, or to discover the nature of protoplasm, may be relat
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SOCIOLOGICAL
SOCIOLOGICAL
What Sociology is—Criticism of Sociology—Sociology and History—Spencer's Sociological Data—Central Ideas of Spencer's Sociology—The Idea of the Social Organism—Parallelisms between a Society and an Individual Organism While Spencer had little agreement with Comte, he was at one with him in regarding Sociology as a possible science and as the crowning science. What Sociology is. —By sociology is meant the study of the structure and activity, development and evolution of social groups, which have
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THE POPULATION QUESTION
THE POPULATION QUESTION
We have not in this volume discussed any of Spencer's contributions to practical life, for the task of indicating his scientific position was more than enough. Furthermore, his Education is the best known of all his works, and many of its suggestions are now realised in everyday practice; his political recommendations are too debatable; and as to ethical advice he has himself said: "The doctrine of Evolution has not furnished guidance to the extent I had hoped. Most of the conclusions drawn empi
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BEYOND SCIENCE
BEYOND SCIENCE
Metaphysics—Early Attitude to Religion—Increased Sympathy with Religion Spencer was always clear that "life is not for work and learning, but work and learning are for life." Thus he valued science because it is " fructiferous ," to use Bacon's word, making for the amelioration of life; but he valued it still more because it is " luciferous ," "for the light it throws on our own nature and the nature of the Universe." He spoke with regret of "the ordinary scientific specialist, who, deeply inter
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CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Even those who have criticised Spencer's system most severely have been generous in recognising the grandeur of his aim. Thus Principal James Iverach, while never sparing in his disclosure of what he regards as the weaknesses and inconsistencies of the Synthetic Philosophy, writes as follows: "It is a great thing to be constrained to recognise that a system is possible which may bring all human thought into unity, that there may be a formula which may express the law of change in all spheres whe
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(Published by Messrs Williams & Norgate)
(Published by Messrs Williams & Norgate)
Compiled and abstracted by Dr Duncan, Dr Scheppig, and Mr Collier. Folio. Boards....
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SOME REFERENCES TO LITERATURE
SOME REFERENCES TO LITERATURE
1876. Bowne, E. P. The Philosophy of Herbert Spencer: being an examination of the "First Principles" of his System. Nelson and Philipps, New York. 1897. Clodd, Edward. Pioneers of Evolution. Grant Richards, London. Pp. 250. 1889. Collins, F. Howard. An Epitome of the Synthetic Philosophy. 1904. Crozier, J. B. Mr Herbert Spencer and the Dangers of Specialism. Fortnightly Review , lxxv. Pp. 105-120. 1875. Fischer. Ueber das Gesetz der Entwickelung mit Rücksicht auf Herbert Spencer. 1874. Fiske, Jo
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