(1820-1903) British philosopher. He wrote Social Statics 1851, expounding his laissez-faire views on social and political problems. In 1862 he began his ten-volume System of Synthetic Philosophy, in which he extended Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution to the entire field of human knowledge. The chief of the ten volumes are First Principles 1862 and Principles of Biology 1864–67, Principles of Sociology 1876–96, and Principles of Ethics 1879–93.
Spencer was born in Derby and was largely self-taught; he worked as a railroad engineer before entering journalism, and was a subeditor on The Economist.
Other works are Principles of Psychology 1855, Essays on Education 1861, The Study of Sociology 1873, Man versus the State 1884, and Autobiography 1904. + prikaži više