ABSTRACT
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) is one of the more interesting characters in our story, as he is one of the more improbable figures with whom we shall deal. William James appraises him as “the philosopher of vastness,” and “the philosopher whom those who have no other philosopher can appreciate” (James 1904, p. 104).1 One of the most prolific of nineteenth-century writers on nearly all matters of scientific and social scientific interest, he is perhaps best known as the expositor of a theory of evolution rivaling that of his contemporary Charles Darwin; in terms of priority, Spencer actually published his essay “Development Hypothesis” seven years before Darwin published Origin of Species. Spencer’s influence was in fact so great and his stature so immense that through the latter half of the nineteenth century he actually eclipsed Darwin; after considerable review, Darwin (at the behest of Alfred Russel Wallace) eventually incorporated Spencer’s phrase “survival of the fittest” in the second edition of Origin of Species, and his use of the term “evolution” in the sixth.2
