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Herbert Spencer

A figure from the books

#HerbertSpencer

Herbert Spencer · 1820–1903

In the books · 1 chapter

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Who this is

“He was the most famous philosopher alive in 1880 and nearly unread by 1930 — the man who coined "survival of the fittest," built a philosophy for everything on one science, and went down with it.”
— The Great Philosophers, Ch. 176

The big idea, in the book's words:

“Everything — stars, species, minds, societies — evolves by one universal law, from simple sameness toward complex, specialized order; and human societies are evolving organisms whose organs exist to serve their individual members, never the other way around.”
— The Great Philosophers, Ch. 176

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The first chapters of each volume are free here on the web; the rest read in the app. Get the app and it opens there.

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