Herbert Spencer
English sociologist and philosopher
Facts:
- Herbert Spencer was one of the first advocates of evolution.
- He compared society to the human body
- He said it was composed of parts working together to promote well being and survival
- He was an English philosopher, biologist, anthropologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era.
- He was one of the principal proponents of evolutionary theory in the mid 19th century
- His reputation at the time rivaled that of Charles Darwin.
- Spencer took the theory of evolution one step beyond biology and applied it to say that societies were organisms that progress through changes similar to that of a living species.
- It was his philosophy that societies would begin simple and then progress to a more complex form.
- It was Herbert Spencer, not Darwin, who coined the phrase 'survival of the fittest'
- It was due to the fact that he believed human behavior was designed in a way that strives for self-preservation.
HerbertSpencer: just took Darwin's theory & applied it to how societies change and evolve over time
CharlesDarwin: Cool
CharlesDarwin: Cool