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Essays: Moral, Political and Aesthetic
This volume, originally published in 1897, contains a collection of miscellaneous writings by Herbert Spencer. The topics of these essays range from politics to morals, and were originally published in various English periodicals. The essays of this collection “The Philosophy of Style”, “Over-Legislation”, “The Morals of Trade”, “Personal Beauty”, “Representative Government”, “Prison-Ethics”, “Railway Morals and Railway Policy”, “Gracefulness”, “State-Tampering with Money and Banks”, and more. Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903) was an esteemed English philosopher, anthropologist, biologist, and sociologist. Many vintage texts such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive, and it is with this in mind that we are republishing this book now, in an affordable, high-quality, modern edition. It comes complete with a specially commissioned biography of the author.
434 pages, Paperback
First published December 21, 2005
About the author
Herbert Spencer
1,630 books251 followersHerbert 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. He was "an enthusiastic exponent of evolution" and even "wrote about evolution before Darwin did." As a polymath, he contributed to a wide range of subjects, including ethics, religion, anthropology, economics, political theory, philosophy, literature, biology, sociology, and psychology. During his lifetime he achieved tremendous authority, mainly in English-speaking academia. "The only other English philosopher to have achieved anything like such widespread popularity was Bertrand Russell, and that was in the 20th century." Spencer was "the single most famous European intellectual in the closing decades of the nineteenth century" but his influence declined sharply after 1900; "Who now reads Spencer?" asked Talcott Parsons in 1937.
Spencer is best known for coining the expression "survival of the fittest", which he did in Principles of Biology (1864), after reading Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species. This term strongly suggests natural selection, yet as Spencer extended evolution into realms of sociology and ethics, he also made use of Lamarckism.
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. He was "an enthusiastic exponent of evolution" and even "wrote about evolution before Darwin did." As a polymath, he contributed to a wide range of subjects, including ethics, religion, anthropology, economics, political theory, philosophy, literature, biology, sociology, and psychology. During his lifetime he achieved tremendous authority, mainly in English-speaking academia. "The only other English philosopher to have achieved anything like such widespread popularity was Bertrand Russell, and that was in the 20th century." Spencer was "the single most famous European intellectual in the closing decades of the nineteenth century" but his influence declined sharply after 1900; "Who now reads Spencer?" asked Talcott Parsons in 1937.
Spencer is best known for coining the expression "survival of the fittest", which he did in Principles of Biology (1864), after reading Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species. This term strongly suggests natural selection, yet as Spencer extended evolution into realms of sociology and ethics, he also made use of Lamarckism.
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December 17, 2024
I read the translation by J. M. Cohen.
'We are great fools. 'He has spent his life in idleness,' we say, and 'I have done nothing today.' What! have you not lived?' (Michel de Montaigne, p. 396).
Montaigne is a total legend, and very quotable. I felt that I would have liked to be friends with him, or grab a pint together, but he would never go for that since he is a rabid misogynist who believes women to be incapable of higher thought or feeling. Shame cos he's otherwise pretty "woke".
I really enjoyed getting to know Montaigne through the book, but didn't necessarily enjoy reading it. It took much longer than its length necessitated. I'm not sure why, but it was still mostly a pleasant experience so I've only knocked off a star (that's for the sexism, Mikey!)
(this review moved from the book it was originally attached to - I read a selection of essays, not the complete essays which I originally reviewed. Oops!)
'We are great fools. 'He has spent his life in idleness,' we say, and 'I have done nothing today.' What! have you not lived?' (Michel de Montaigne, p. 396).
Montaigne is a total legend, and very quotable. I felt that I would have liked to be friends with him, or grab a pint together, but he would never go for that since he is a rabid misogynist who believes women to be incapable of higher thought or feeling. Shame cos he's otherwise pretty "woke".
I really enjoyed getting to know Montaigne through the book, but didn't necessarily enjoy reading it. It took much longer than its length necessitated. I'm not sure why, but it was still mostly a pleasant experience so I've only knocked off a star (that's for the sexism, Mikey!)
(this review moved from the book it was originally attached to - I read a selection of essays, not the complete essays which I originally reviewed. Oops!)
Displaying 1 of 1 review