Herbert Spencer

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Herbert Spencer

Birthdate:
Birthplace: Derby, Derby, England, United Kingdom
Death: December 08, 1903 (83)
Brighton and Hove, England, United Kingdom (Old Age)
Immediate Family:

Son of William George Spencer and Harriet Spencer
Father of Reverend Thomas Cole Spencer; William George Spencer and William George Spencer
Brother of Louisa Spencer and Arthur Spencer

Occupation: Philosophy
Managed by: Rev Catherine Lynn West
Last Updated:

About Herbert Spencer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Spencer

Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English philosopher, biologist, anthropologist, and sociologist famous for his hypothesis of social Darwinism whereby superior physical force shapes history. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest", which he coined in Principles of Biology (1864) after reading Charles Darwin's 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.

Spencer developed an all-embracing conception of evolution as the progressive development of the physical world, biological organisms, the human mind, and human culture and societies. As a polymath, he contributed to a wide range of subjects, including ethics, religion, anthropology, economics, political theory, philosophy, literature, astronomy, biology, sociology, and psychology. During his lifetime he achieved tremendous authority, mainly in English-speaking academia. "The only other English philosopher to have achieved anything like such widespread popularity was Bertrand Russell, and that was in the 20th century." Spencer was "the single most famous European intellectual in the closing decades of the nineteenth century" but his influence declined sharply after 1900: "Who now reads Spencer?" asked Talcott Parsons in 1937.

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Herbert Spencer's Timeline

1820
April 27, 1820
Derby, Derby, England, United Kingdom
1903
December 8, 1903
Age 83
Brighton and Hove, England, United Kingdom
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