SPENCER, HERBERT

born April 27, 1820, Derby, Derbyshire, Eng. died Dec. 8, 1903, Brighton, Sussex English sociologist and philosopher, an early advocate of the theory of evolution, who achieved an influential synthesis of knowledge, advocating the preeminence of the individual over society and of science over religion. His magnum opus was The Synthetic Philosophy, a comprehensive work completed in 1896 and containing volumes on the principles of biology, psychology, morality, and sociology. Additional reading A so-called official biography is that by David Duncan, Life and Letters of Herbert Spencer, 2 vol. (1908). T.H. Huxley, in Evolution and Ethics, in Collected Essays, vol. 9 (1894), accuses Spencer of fanatical individualism and reasoned savagery. H. Sidgwick, Lectures on the Ethics of T.H. Green, Mr. Herbert Spencer and J. Martineau, pp. 135312 (1902); and G.E. Moore, Principia Ethica, sect. 3135 (1903, reprinted 1954), contain detailed criticisms of Spencer's ethical theory. See also J. Rumney, Herbert Spencer's Sociology: A Study in the History of Social Theory (1934); S. Andreski (ed.), Principles of Sociology, abr. ed. (1969), which includes an analysis and assessment of Spencer's sociological theory; D. MacRae (ed.), The Man Versus the State: With Four Essays on Politics and Society (1969), in which the introduction (pp. 754) deals with Spencer's views on society and politics; J.Y.D. Peel, Herbert Spencer: The Evolution of a Sociologist (1971); and David Wiltshire, Social and Political Thought of Herbert Spencer (1977). Major Works: Philosophy and religion. The Nature and Reality of Religion, 1885 (withdrawn from publication). Spencer's series on Synthetic Philosophy comprises: First Principles, 1862; The Principles of Biology, 2 vol., 186467; The Principles of Psychology, 1855; The Principles of Sociology, 3 vol., 187696; The Principles of Ethics, 2 vol., 189293. Political and social. The Proper Sphere of Government, 1843; Social Statics, 1851; Education: Intellectual, Moral, Physical, 1861; The Study of Sociology, 1872; The Man Versus the State, 1884; Facts and Comments, 1902. Other works. Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative, 3 vol., 1891; Autobiography, 1904, an intellectual rather than a personal autobiography.