Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was an English polymath active as a philosopher, psychologist, biologist, sociologist, and anthropologist. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest", which he coined in Principles of Biology (1864) after reading Charles Darwin's 1859 book On the Origin of Species. The term strongly suggests natural selection, yet Spencer saw evolution as extending into realms of sociology and ethics, so he also supported Lamarckism.
Career Journey
Background
- Born in
- Derby
Trending & Selected Quotes
Trending topics shown first"Excerpts from Progress: Its Law and Cause available from the Internet Modern History Sourcebook"
"Thus poetry, regarded as a vehicle of thought, is especially impressive partly because it obeys all the laws of effective speech, and partly because in so doing it imitates the natural utterances of e…"
"Originally, ethics has no existence apart from religion, which holds it in solution."
"Throughout all organic nature there is at work a modifying influence of the kind... as the cause, these specific differences: an influence which, though slow in its action, does, in time, if the circu…"
Works & Publications
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Timeline
1820
Born
Birth1903
Died
Death
Influenced By
Thinkers whose ideas shaped Herbert's philosophy
Influenced
Thinkers whose work was shaped by Herbert's ideas
Source Attribution
Information about Herbert Spencer is sourced from curated knowledge bases and cross-referenced for accuracy. Influence relationships are scored by thematic overlap and historical plausibility.
