Herbert Spencer, (27 April 1820 - 8 December 1903), is best known for his theory on Social Darwinism, although he is also known for his Synthetic Philosophy and his ideas regarding Progress or the Law of Evolution. Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, anthropologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian Era and is well known for coining the term, "survival of the fittest" in Principles of Biology (1864). While Spencer worked within a wide array of disciplines, and is associated with many theories, I will be focusing solely on his theory of Social Darwinism.
Social Darwinism is a social theory that applies the laws of survival to a society, which is essentially the concept of adaptability and competition within a social context, and is used to explain the social struggle evident in society for existence. The idea of competition within a society rests on the basis that there is competition within an economic and political sense, as these two fields being integral in the progression of humanity. Essentially, Social Darwinism is used to describe social progress or evolution.
Spencer did not however, simply appropriate Darwin's biological ideas of progress or survival, (Natural Selection), but rather incorporated it into his preexisting synthetic philosophical system. Spencer's evolutionary ideas are based on Lamark's idea that organs are developed or diminished depending on use and disuse. this evolutionary mechanism is necessary to explain the social development of society, and more broadly, humanity. Spencer's idea regarding social evolution has direction and an endpoint and once it reaches an apex, it will achieve a final state of equilibrium. In this sense, evolution means progress, improvement, and eventually the perfection of the social organism, in this case being society.
Within the coming weeks I will also try and provide more information on the influence that Herbert Spencer had on other academics, focusing specifically on Olive Schreiner and her literary work.
Follow these links for more information on Social Darwinism and Herbert Spencer. Another person of interest is Jean-Baptiste Lamark, who Spencer based his evolutionary ideas on. A link providing information on Lamark is also made available here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Lamarck
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Spencer#Social_Darwinism
https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-textbook/sociology-1/the-history-of-sociology-23/spencer-and-social-darwinism-149-3119/
Great work Gustav. Lamarckism is the study of hereditary characteristics - the precursor of the field of genetics. This will come up in our reading of Eugene Marais, whose investigations into the "soul" of the white ant (and of the ape), are in fact an inquiry into the nature of inherited instinct and of learned behaviours. Lamarck was of the view that learned behaviours in one generation can be passed down to the next as "instinct". Marais conducted a series of experiments which in his view showed that animals "higher" on the evolutionary scale, such as apes, sacrifice instinctual knowledge in favour of learned behaviours. We should follow up further about Lamarck and Darwin as key precursors to debates about both race and sexuality in Schreiner's time.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the positive feedback on my post. I look forward to covering more of Marais' work, especially considering just how interesting it is. If their is anything regarding Marais, Schreiner or Lamarck that you think I should read, or perhaps even research and post about, please let me know. It really would be a pleasure to continue finding out more about these figures and their work.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this summary. After doing reading about Schreiner, I found a few links and relation to Darwinism. It will be interesting to put this link together and see what the contrast between the two are. Do people still live with the idea of the "survival of the fittest"? I always find it interesting how these studies and findings shape life today.
ReplyDeletePeople definitely still use the phrase, "survival of the fittest", but instead of using it to describe adaptability and progress within society, it is now used more literally to describe physical survival. The phrase praises individuals who possess great physical strength, intelligence and/or creativity and is often used in conjunction with scenarios where survival and dominance is required such as surviving in the wilderness or even excelling as an entrepreneur. Thus, while the phrase has a slightly different use and meaning today, it still focuses heavily on the idea of competition. In that aspect, individuals still live with the idea of "survival of the fittest". I hope that answers your question. If you have more questions, or perhaps want to open up a different avenue of discussion, please feel free to raise them. I am always open to new ideas, questions and general conversation.
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