The Best Works of Herbert SpencerEssays on Education and Kindred SubjectsJohn Stuart Mill; His Life and WorksThe Philosophy of StyleThe Right To Ignore The StateThe Data of Ethics

Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, anthropologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era. 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,...

In a debate upon the development hypothesis, lately narrated to me by a friend, one of the disputants was described as arguing that as, in all our experience, we know no such phenomenon as transmutation of species, it is unphilosophical to assume that transmutation of species ever takes place. Had I been present I think that, passing over his assertion, which is open to criticism, I should have replied that, as in all our experience we have never known a species created, it was, by his own...

Of the four chief elements which, in various combinations, make up living bodies, three are gaseous under all ordinary conditions and the fourth is a solid. Oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen are gases which for many years defied all attempts to liquefy them, and carbon is a solid except perhaps at the extremely high temperature of the electric arc. Only by intense pressures joined with extreme refrigerations have the three gases been reduced to the liquid form. There is much significance in t...

Far from the Madding Crowd is Thomas Hardy's fourth novel and his first major literary success. It originally appeared anonymously as a monthly serial in Cornhill Magazine, where it gained a wide readership.It deals in themes of love, honour and betrayal, against a backdrop of the seemingly idyllic, but often harsh, realities of a farming community in Victorian England. It describes the life and relationships of Bathsheba Everdene with her lonely neighbour William Boldwood, the fait...

This vintage text contains a detailed treatise on synthetic philosophy, being an outlining of its first principles written by Herbert Spencer. Spencer's system endeavored to demonstrate that it was possible to believe in the perfection of humanity based on complex scientific ideas such as the first law of thermodynamics and biological evolution, rather than looking to religion. This fascinating text will appeal to those with an interest in seminal philosophical ideas, and will be of consid...

The Complete Works of Herbert SpencerThis Complete Collection includes the following titles:--------1 - Essays on Education and Kindred Subjects2 - Essays: Scientific, Political, & Speculative, Vol. I3 - Les bases de la morale évolutionniste4 - The Right To Ignore The State5 - Illustrations of Universal Progress6 - The Data of Ethics7 - The Factors of Organic Evolution8 - Essays: Scientific, Political, and Spec...

The Complete Essays by Herbert Spencer (Vol. 1–3) gathers the major occasional writings of one of Victorian Britain's most ambitious system-builders, ranging across evolution, psychology, education, sociology, ethics, political theory, and the philosophy of science. Written in a lucid yet argumentative prose, these essays display Spencer's characteristic movement from empirical observation to broad synthetic principle. They belong to the intellectual climate shaped by industrial modernity,...

The book has an active table of contents for readers to access each chapter of the book. Hebert Spencer coined the famous expression “survival of the fittest”. Spencer’s theory inspired Andrew Carnegie and William Graham Sumner's visions of unbridled and unrepentant capitalism of the United States in late nineteenth-century. Carnegie interpreted Spencer's social theory as justifying merciless economic competition. Spencer's reputation was not recovered for many year...

We too often forget that not only is there “a soul of goodness in things evil,” but very generally also, a soul of truth in things erroneous. While many admit the abstract probability that a falsity has usually a nucleus of reality, few bear this abstract probability in mind, when passing judgment on the opinions of others. A belief that is finally proved to be grossly at variance with fact, is cast aside with indignation or contempt; and in the heat of antagonism scarcely any one inquires...

We too often forget that not only is there “a soul of goodness in things evil,” but very generally also, a soul of truth in things erroneous. While many admit the abstract probability that a falsity has usually a nucleus of reality, few bear this abstract probability in mind, when passing judgment on the opinions of others. A belief that is finally proved to be grossly at variance with fact, is cast aside with indignation or contempt; and in the heat of antagonism scarcely any one inquires...

In "The Universal Postulate," Herbert Spencer presents a profound exploration of the philosophical foundations of knowledge and reality. Through a systematic analysis of logical principles, Spencer articulates his central thesis that all knowledge is rooted in a universal postulate, which encompasses fundamental truths that govern human understanding. The work is characterized by Spencer's hallmark clarity and rigor, utilizing a blend of deductive reasoning and empirical observation, placi...