Herbert Spencer

Herbert Spencer was a British polymath who lived from 1820 to 1903. A polymath is a person who studies many different fields of knowledge. Spencer was active in biology, sociology, psychology, anthropology, and philosophy. He was a very influential intellectual during the late nineteenth century. Many scholars in English-speaking universities looked to his ideas for guidance. Some historians even call him the most famous philosopher of his era.

Spencer is perhaps best known for coining a specific phrase. He created the expression "survival of the fittest" in his 1864 book, *Principles of Biology*. He wrote this after reading Charles Darwin's famous work, *On the Origin of Species*. While the phrase is often linked to natural selection, Spencer had his own views. He also supported Lamarckism, which is the idea that traits can be passed down through use. He believed evolution was a universal process. This process applied to the physical world, living organisms, the human mind, and human societies.

Spencer's intellectual journey began with a unique education. He was born in Derby, England, to a father who was a religious dissenter. His father taught him empirical science, which is learning through observation. His uncle, Thomas Spencer, taught him mathematics, physics, and Latin. However, Spencer was largely an autodidact. This means he taught himself most of his vast knowledge through reading. He spent much of his youth working as a civil engineer during the railway boom. He also wrote for various radical political and religious journals.

In his professional career, Spencer sought to find universal natural laws. He wanted to show that everything in the universe followed predictable rules. This included human culture, language, and morality. He disagreed with many theologians who believed the human soul was beyond science. In 1855, he published *Principles of Psychology*. He argued that the human mind is subject to natural laws found in biology. He hoped his work in psychology would do for the mind what Isaac Newton did for matter.

To organize his massive ideas, Spencer began a huge project. He called it the *System of Synthetic Philosophy*. This work aimed to prove that evolution applied to biology, psychology, sociology, and morality. He originally planned for the work to be ten volumes long. He expected it to take twenty years to finish. Instead, the project took forty years of his life. By the 1870s, his books were selling well enough to support him. His ideas were translated into many languages, including German, French, Russian, Japanese, and Chinese.

Spencer was a central figure in the scientific community of his time. He was a member of the Athenaeum, an exclusive club in London. He also belonged to the X Club, a group of nine prominent thinkers. This group included famous figures like Thomas Henry Huxley. Huxley was a lifelong friend of Spencer and known as "Darwin's Bulldog." Through these social circles, Spencer had a very large and influential audience. He was even elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1883.

As he entered his later years, Spencer's life changed significantly. He became a hypochondriac and suffered from many undiagnosed pains. He also experienced growing loneliness and social sensitivity. His political views shifted from radicalism to conservatism. For example, he once supported votes for women but later became an opponent of female suffrage. Despite these shifts, he remained a strong opponent of imperialism and militarism. He was very critical of the Boer War.

Spencer's contributions reached beyond academic philosophy. He even invented a tool for organizing documents. This invention was a precursor to the modern paper clip. It was known as a "binding-pin" and was distributed by Ackermann & Company. Though his influence declined after 1900, his life remains a major part of intellectual history. He died on December 8, 1903, and was buried in Highgate Cemetery.