Herbert Spencer (life - 1820-1903) - philosopher from England, the main representative of evolutionism, which became widespread in the 2nd half of the 19th century. He understood philosophy as a holistic, homogeneous knowledge based on specific sciences and achieving universal community in its development. That is, in his opinion, this is the highest level of knowledge, covering the entire world of law. According to Spencer, it lies in evolutionism, that is, development. The main works of this author: “Psychology” (1855), “System of Synthetic Philosophy” (1862-1896), “Social Statistics” (1848).

Spencer's early years

Herbert Spencer was born in 1820, April 27, in Derby. His uncle, father and grandfather were teachers. Herbert’s health was so poor that his parents even lost hope several times that the boy would survive. As a child, he did not show any phenomenal abilities; he learned to read only at the age of 8, however, books did not interest him much. Herbert Spencer was lazy and absent-minded at school, and also stubborn and disobedient. He was raised at home by his father, who wanted his son to acquire extraordinary and independent thinking. Herbert improved his health thanks to physical exercise.

Education of Herbert Spencer

He was sent at the age of 13, according to English custom, to be raised by his uncle. Thomas, Spencer's uncle, was a clergyman in Bath. He was a "university man." Herbert, at his insistence, continued his education at Cambridge University. However, after completing the three-year preparatory course, he went home. He decided to continue his studies on his own.

Herbert Spencer never regretted that he did not receive an academic education. He went through a good school of life, which subsequently helped him overcome many difficulties that arise when solving certain problems.

Spencer - engineer

Spencer's father wanted his son to become a teacher, that is, to follow in his footsteps. Having received a secondary education, he actually helped one teacher for several months at the school where he himself had once studied. Spencer showed a talent for teaching. But he was more interested in natural science and mathematics than in philology and history. Therefore, when the position of an engineer became vacant during the construction of the railway, Herbert Spencer accepted without hesitation. His biography at this time is marked by the fact that, while fulfilling his position, he sketched plans and drew maps. The thinker we are interested in even invented a special instrument (“velocimeter”) designed to measure the speed of trains.

Features of Spencer as a philosopher

Herbert Spencer, whose biography is described in this article, differs from most of his predecessor philosophers in practical ways. This brings him closer to Comte, the founder of positivism, as well as Renouvier, a Novocantian, who also did not complete the course at the university. This feature played an important role in the formation of the original Spencer. But this also had its drawbacks. For example, he, like Comte, did not know the German language at all, so he could not read the works of philosophers who wrote in it in the original. In addition, during the first half of the 19th century, German thinkers (Schelling, Fichte, Kant, etc.) remained unknown in England. Only from the late 1820s did the British begin to become acquainted with authors from Germany. The first translations were of very low quality.

Self-education, first philosophical works

In 1839, Spencer received Lyell's Principles of Geology. From this essay he becomes acquainted with the theory of the evolution of life. Spencer is still passionate about engineering projects, but it is now clear that this profession does not guarantee him a strong financial position. Herbert returned home in 1841 and self-educated for two years. He became acquainted with the works of the classics of philosophy and at the same time published his first works - articles written for the Nonconformist, devoted to questions of the true boundaries of state activity.

Herbert again worked as an engineer in 1843-1846, heading the bureau. He is increasingly interested in political issues. He was greatly influenced in this area by his uncle Thomas, a priest who, unlike other members of the Spencer family, had conservative views and participated in the democratic Chartist movement, as well as in the agitation for the repeal of the Corn Laws.

"Social Statistics"

Spencer became assistant editor of The Economist (weekly) in 1846. He makes good money devoting his free time to his own work. Herbert writes "Social Statistics", in which he considered the development of life as gradually realizing a divine idea. He later found this concept too theological. However, already in this work Spencer applied the theory of evolution to social life.

This work did not go unnoticed by specialists. Spencer makes acquaintances with Ellist, Lewis, and Huxley. It also brought him such admirers and friends as Hooker, Georg Grot, Stuart Mill. Only relations with Carlyle did not work out. Reasonable and cool-headed Spencer could not stand his bilious pessimism.

"Psychology"

The philosopher was inspired by the success of his first work. He published a number of others between 1848 and 1858 and considered a plan for a task to which he wanted to devote his whole life. Spencer applies in Psychology (his second work, published in 1855) to psychology the hypothesis of the natural origin of species and points out that generic experience can explain what is inexplicable by individual experience. Therefore, Darwin considers this philosopher one of his predecessors.

"Synthetic Philosophy"

Gradually, Spencer begins to develop his own system. It was influenced by the empiricism of his predecessors, mainly Mill and Hume, the criticism of Kant, refracted through the prism of Hamilton (a representative of the school of the so-called “common sense”), as well as the positivism of Comte and the natural philosophy of Schelling. However, the main idea of ​​his philosophical system was the idea of ​​development.

Herbert devoted 36 years of his life to “Synthetic Philosophy,” his main work. This work glorified Spencer, who was declared the most brilliant philosopher living at that time.

Herbert Spencer in 1858 decided to announce a subscription for the publication of the work. He published the first issue in 1860. In the period from 1860 to 1863, “Fundamental Principles” was published. However, due to financial difficulties, the publication had difficulty moving forward.

Material difficulties

Spencer suffers poverty and losses, and is on the verge of poverty. We should add to this the nervous fatigue that interfered with work. In 1865, the philosopher bitterly informed readers that he was forced to suspend the publication of this series. Two years after Herbert's father died, he received a small inheritance, which somewhat improved his financial situation.

Meet Youmans, US publication

Herbert Spencer at this time met Youmans, an American who published his works in the USA. In this country, Herbert gained wide popularity earlier than in England. Youmans and American fans provide him with financial support, which allows the philosopher to resume publishing his books. The friendship between Youmans and Spencer lasted 27 years, until the death of the former. Herbert's name is gradually becoming known. The demand for his books is increasing. He covers financial losses in 1875 and makes a profit.

Spencer makes 2 trips to the south of Europe in subsequent years, mainly in London. In 1886, the philosopher was forced to interrupt his work for 4 years due to poor health. The last volume was published in 1896, in the fall.

Herbert Spencer: basic ideas

His huge work (“Synthetic Philosophy”) consists of 10 volumes. It includes “Fundamentals”, “Fundamentals of Psychology”, “Fundamentals of Biology”, “Fundamentals of Sociology”. The philosopher believes that the evolutionary law underlies the development of the entire world, including various societies. Matter goes from “incoherent homogeneity” to a state of “coherent heterogeneity,” that is, it differentiates. This law is universal, says Herbert Spencer. A brief description of him does not take into account all the nuances, but this is enough for the first acquaintance with this philosopher. Spencer traces its action on specific material in various fields, including the history of society. Herbert Spencer rejects theological explanations. His sociology is devoid of connection with the divine. His understanding of the functioning of society as a single living organism with interconnected parts expands the scope of the study of history and prompts the philosopher to study it. According to Herbert Spencer, the law of equilibrium underlies evolution. Nature, in case of any violation, invariably strives to return to its previous state. Such is the organicism of Herbert Spencer. Since the main importance lies in the education of characters, evolution occurs slowly. Herbert Spencer is not as optimistic about the future as Mill and Comte. We briefly reviewed its main ideas.

The philosopher died in 1903, on December 8, in Brighton. He lived, despite his poor health, for more than 83 years.

Herbert Spencer's theory became the property of educated people. Today we no longer think or forget about who we owe the discovery of this or that idea. Herbert Spencer, whose sociology and philosophy played a huge role in the development of world thought, is one of the greatest minds in history.

Herbert Spencer is a famous English philosopher, biologist, astronomer, anthropologist, and sociologist. He is a representative of the classical liberal political theory of Victorian England. Spencer created the comprehensive concept of evolutionism. From his point of view, this is the progressive and consistent development of the physical world, biological organisms, human thought, culture and society. He also made contributions to such humanities as ethics, religious studies, economics, literature, and psychology. He founded the organic school in sociology. During his lifetime, this man had enormous authority, mainly among English-speaking scientists and academicians. However, in the twentieth century it was practically forgotten. The philosopher was greatly influenced by the theory of Charles Darwin, which Herbert Spencer extended to other areas of life, not just nature - in particular, sociology and ethics.

early years

The famous philosopher and sociologist was born in England, in the county of Derbyshire, in 1820. His father was William George Spencer, a religious dissident who changed denominations several times and settled on Quakerism. Apparently, he passed on to his son a dislike of all types of government repression. Herbert's father ran a school where he introduced Pestalozzi's progressive pedagogical methods, and was also secretary of the Derby Scientific Society, founded in the eighteenth century by Charles Darwin's grandfather. Herbert Spencer had great respect for his father and honored his upbringing. Members of the Scientific Society instilled in him views similar to those of evolution. His uncle, a priest, gave the boy a formal education in mathematics, physics and Latin. However, the young man gained most of his knowledge on his own, from books. From his early youth it was difficult for him to concentrate on any scientific discipline.

Mature years

The philosopher began his working career as a railway engineer. At the same time, he wrote various radical articles in progressive magazines of that time on religious and political topics. From 1848, he himself was an assistant editor at the trade union publication The Economist. It was at this time that he published his first work. Herbert Spencer, whose ideas will begin to be vyingly disseminated in scientific publications in a few years, writes the study “Social Statics”. His publisher, John Chapman, introduced the new luminary of science to his salon, which was attended by many prominent minds of the time, such as John Stuart Mill and George Eliot (pseudonym of Mary Evans). Herbert Spencer himself brought there the biologist Thomas Huxley, also nicknamed “Darwin’s Bulldog” and who became his close friend. And he had a romantic relationship with Mary Evans. At the salon, he became acquainted with the works that determined his future life - Mill’s “System of Logic” and the ideas of positivism of Auguste Comte, with which he sharply disagreed.

Herbert Spencer's early work on the universalism of natural laws

In 1855, the scientist wrote the work “Principles of Psychology,” which represents the philosophical basis for this science. The book is based on the assumption that human thinking is a consequence of natural laws and should be studied within the framework of biology. This means that it is possible to study not only the individual, but also gender, ethnicity and race. Herbert tried to combine new psychology with Mill's teachings. He suggested that thinking consists of special sensory atoms that are held together by the laws of association of ideas, and mental functions are located in special parts of the brain. The scientist was proud of his ideas and believed that this book would do for the spirit what Newton did for matter. But she wasn't very successful. Interest in psychology stemmed from a deeper problem that troubled a creative thinker like Herbert Spencer. His philosophy required to substantiate the universality of natural law. He was passionate about proving that everything in the universe - including human culture, morality and language - could be explained by scientific rules. Moreover, he believed in the possibility of discovering a single law, which he identified with progressive development and called the principle of evolution.

Crazy success

In 1858, Spencer invents his own system of synthetic philosophy. Its main criterion was the principle of evolution, which operates both in biology and in psychology, sociology and morality. He believed that he could expound his synthetic philosophy in ten volumes in twenty years, but in fact the volume of work turned out to be twice that and took up the rest of his life. Spencer was interested not only in the content, but also in the form of presentation, so he was very ambitious in being recognized as a writer. However, he achieved only that in the seventies of the nineteenth century he was considered the greatest philosopher of that time. Herbert Spencer, quotations from whose works became catchphrases during his lifetime, made a living and actually made a fortune for himself since 1869 solely by selling his books and articles to various publications. His works have been translated into German, Italian, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese, French, Chinese and Japanese. He received various prestigious awards from countries all over the world - from Asia to the USA. Spencer became a member of several exclusive clubs, where only the most famous thinkers, writers and artists were admitted.

Recent years and disappointment

We can say that he achieved everything that a person could wish for. Herbert Spencer, whose books dictated scientific fashion, actually controlled the academic world community in his hands. His views influenced, to one degree or another, all nineteenth-century research. But the last years of his life brought him only loneliness and disappointment. Despite his wealth, Spencer never owned a home, never married, and since 1855 suffered from a strange illness that no doctor could diagnose. After the 1890s, most of his friends died, and he himself lost faith in the principle of evolution that he had so passionately preached. His political views became sharply conservative. If in his first work “Social Statics” he expressed ideas that women should be given the right to vote and advocated the nationalization of land, then from the 1880s he became a strong opponent of suffragism and sided with the rich latifundists (work “Man against the State”) . The only thing he remained faithful to until his death was the fight against war and militarism. Before his death, Spencer was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. He continued to write until his death, and when he could hardly see, he dictated. Herbert Spencer died in December 1903, and was buried opposite the grave of Karl Marx.

Synthetic philosophy and the principle of evolution

It has already been mentioned that Spencer offered humanity a ready-made system that, from his point of view, could replace orthodox religious faith. He preached the possibility of human improvement based on such advanced scientific concepts as the first law of thermodynamics and biological evolution. It can be said that his philosophical ideas are a mixture of deism and positivism. Although he lost his Christian faith as a teenager, it seems that subconsciously he created a concept in which the laws of nature seemed designed to lead man to an ideal. On the other hand, he tried to unify scientific knowledge and that is why he called his philosophy “synthesis.” For him, the laws of evolution could be applied to any discipline, and there were no exceptions. However, despite the influence of Darwin's theory on his concepts, Spencer's ideas are very different from those expressed in The Origin of Species. He believed that evolution has a direction and an ultimate goal, that society itself develops from lower to higher forms, just like human thinking.

Sociology and agnosticism

Spencer attempted to reformulate the social sciences according to his principles. One might consider him the “father of social Darwinism,” although he is more focused on explaining the complexity of different forms of human organization. He proposed a theory about two types of society - military and industrial, which correspond to different stages of evolution. The first type is permeated by structures of hierarchy and subordination. The second is based on voluntarily assumed social responsibilities. The military type is simple, while the industrial type is a complex organism, but nevertheless is a direct successor of the first. The driving force behind the evolution of society is individualism. Its basis, as the philosopher says, is the opportunity for a person to do whatever he wants, as long as the freedom of another is not violated. Although many conservatives reproached Spencer for atheism and materialism, he insisted that he was not at all going to undermine the foundations of religion in the name of science, but, on the contrary, to reconcile them. After all, both believe that human knowledge is relative. Therefore, we can only study phenomena (phenomena), and not reality as such. The book in which Herbert Spencer outlined these views is “Fundamentals.” It says that we can only imagine the ultimate reality, and by its nature it is unknowable.

Political Views

Spencer was close to “anarcho-capitalism” and believed that the state would exhaust itself and disappear, and its functions would be performed by the free market. He was a harsh critic of patriotism. He also believed that the individual had the right to ignore the state. But although the politicians of the subsequent century evolved in ways that Spencer would not have liked, they loved to quote him. For example, Margaret Thatcher often used the phrase “There is no alternative,” which was inspired by the style and words of the famous philosopher. Spencer's social Darwinism was also quite specific. He did not believe that there should be a struggle for survival in society and, on the contrary, he encouraged charitable activities. Nevertheless, he strongly opposed the mixing of races, saying that each of them adapted to its natural and social conditions, and their combination would produce “a bad hybrid that will not work.”

Influence

Probably the only person who managed to sell a million copies of his books during his lifetime was Herbert Spencer. “Fundamentals” and other works of the philosopher helped thousands of scientists expand the horizons of their thinking and “explode” Victorian stagnation. Polish writer Boleslaw Prus called Spenser the "Aristotle of the nineteenth century" and popularized his concept in his novel Pharaoh. He was respected by Georgy Plekhanov and Chinese and Japanese reformers, who saw in the philosopher's ideas the justification for their economic competition with Europe.

However, most of Spencer's contemporaries were unable to appreciate his ideas. People started talking about the colossal contribution this British thinker made to the development of philosophy and sociology only in the 20th century, and today his scientific legacy is being actively rethought.

Childhood and youth

Herbert Spencer was born on April 27, 1820 in Derby, Devonshire. The future philosopher grew up in the family of a school teacher. Spencer's parents, in addition to him, gave birth to six more children, five of whom died in infancy.

Herbert was not in good health, so his father decided not to send his son to school and personally took up his upbringing and education. The boy adopted both knowledge and personal qualities from his parent: in his autobiographical notes, the philosopher claimed that he learned punctuality, independence, and strict adherence to his principles from his father.

When developing an educational program for his son, Spencer Sr. carefully approached the selection of literature. Herbert quickly became addicted to reading, and although his success in school subjects could not be called brilliant, the boy could not be denied curiosity, rich imagination and observation.

At the age of 13, his parents were going to send him to his uncle - he was ready to take upon himself the preparation of the young man to enter Cambridge. However, Spencer, skeptical of formal education, did not go to university.

In the autumn of 1837, Herbert, having accepted a position as a railway engineer, moved to London. But after 3 years he left the capital and returned home. There Spencer tried his hand at studying mathematics, but since he was not good at the exact sciences, he quickly lost interest in this idea. But the young man developed an interest in journalism. In the radical newspaper “Nonconformist” he published 12 articles on political and social topics. In 1843 they were published as a separate book.

In subsequent years, Herbert lived between London and Birmingham, trying himself in a variety of fields. He wrote plays, poems and poems, published his own magazine, worked as an engineer and architect. At the same time, the young man did not stop studying, became acquainted with the works of British and German thinkers and was preparing to publish his own book.

Philosophy and sociology

Spencer's first work, entitled Social Statics, was published in 1851. In it, the philosopher acted as the founder of the theory of justice, which was subsequently developed in his other works. The basis of the book was an argument about how balance can be maintained in the state. Herbert believed that such a balance is possible if the social structure is subject to the law of freedom and the resulting system of justice.

Aspiring sociologist Herbert Spencer

The reading public greeted “Social Statics” favorably, but the author himself decided that not everyone was able to properly appreciate the depth of his work. But Spencer’s work attracted the attention of prominent British experts, including Thomas Huxley, George Eliot, and Stuart Mill.

Communicating with them, Herbert discovered new names in modern philosophy - one of his new comrades, Mill, introduced him to the works of Auguste Comte. Having discovered that some of the Frenchman’s ideas echoed his own, the thinker felt wounded. Subsequently, Spencer repeatedly emphasized that Comte did not have the slightest influence on his views.

In 1855, the treatise “Foundations of Psychology” was published, published in two volumes. In it, Herbert described his own concept of associative psychology. This work was not easy for the author; it took a lot of mental and physical strength. In the biography he himself wrote, the thinker admitted that at the end his nerves were in a terrible state and he barely completed the essay. But the trials didn't end there. “Foundations of Psychology” did not arouse keen interest among readers, the costs of publication did not pay off, and Spencer was left without a livelihood.

Friends came to the rescue, organizing a preliminary subscription to the “System of Synthetic Philosophy” - a huge work into which Herbert invested all of himself. The work process turned out to be painful for the man - the overwork that befell him back in the days of “Foundation of Psychology” made itself felt. Nevertheless, in 1862 the first part was published, called “Fundamental Principles”. In 1864 and 1866, two volumes of “Fundamentals of Biology” were published.

In the philosopher’s homeland, both works did not gain success, but readers from Russia and America became interested in them. Spencer's fans from the New World even sent the author, dejected by the losses, a check for $7 thousand so that he could cover the costs of publication and continue publishing the planned series of books. Friends had to work hard to persuade Herbert to accept these funds. The thinker refused generous financial assistance until the last moment, but eventually gave in.

In 1870 and 1872, “Foundations of Psychology” were published. At the same time, Spencer managed to work on another essay on sociology. True, he could no longer collect the necessary material alone - with age, the philosopher’s vision deteriorated so much that he had to hire a secretary.

Together they systematized data on the social institutions of different peoples, entering information into special tables. The material seemed so valuable to Herbert that he decided to publish it as a separate book. The first part of “Descriptive Sociology” was published in 1871, the publication of the other 7 volumes continued until 1880.

The first book that brought Spencer commercial success was A Study of Sociology (1873). He wanted to use it to precede the publication of “Foundations of Sociology” (1877-1896) - according to the author’s idea, a kind of introduction was required that would allow readers to understand the new science. Herbert's last works were “Foundations of Ethics” (1879-1893), a work that put an end to the “System of Synthetic Philosophy.”

The British thinker adhered to positivism, a philosophical movement that originated in France. His followers believed that classical metaphysics was unable to provide answers to pressing questions of modern science. They were not interested in unattainable, speculative knowledge; they saw much greater value in empirical research. Spencer, along with the founder of the movement, Auguste Comte and John Mill, became a representative of the first wave of positivism.

The theory of evolution developed by Herbert became widespread. According to it, evolution is the basic law of development inherent in all phenomena. It is characterized by transitions from incoherence to coherence, from homogeneous to heterogeneous and from definite to indefinite. The final stage of evolution according to Spencer is the balance - for example, of progressive and conservative forces in society. The philosopher used this theory to analyze social, biological, psychological and other phenomena.

Herbert was also the author of the organic theory. Society seemed to him as a living organism that increases in mass, becomes more complex, lives as a single whole, at the same time, individual cells (in society their analogue is people) are constantly changing: some die, but new ones come to replace them. The philosopher compared state institutions to individual parts of the body that perform certain functions.

In addition to the monumental work “A System of Synthetic Philosophy,” Spencer published a number of books, including “The Proper Boundaries of State Power” (1843), “Man and the State” (1884), “Facts and Commentaries” (1902) and others.

Personal life

Not much is known about the philosopher’s personal life. The main reason for his loneliness lies in the fact that Herbert devoted himself entirely to work. In 1851, the thinker’s friends, having looked for a suitable wife for him, set out to send him down the aisle.

However, these plans were not destined to come true - after meeting the girl, Spencer abandoned the marriage. He justified this decision by saying that the bride was “too developed.” Later, Herbert never created his own family; all his thoughts turned to science and books.

Death

Herbert Spencer died on December 8, 1903 in Brighton. He was buried in Highgate Cemetery in London, next to the ashes of another outstanding philosopher of the 19th century -. The death of the British thinker was preceded by years of illness - at the end of his life he no longer got out of bed.

The Autobiography he wrote was published in 1904, and readers swept the books off the shelves. This work by Spencer was talked about long before its publication; publishers received numerous pre-orders. On the very first day of sales, “Autobiography” was completely sold out; even the impressive price did not bother the reading public.

Bibliography

• 1842 - “The Proper Boundaries of State Power”
• 1851 - “Social Statics”
• 1861 - “Mental, moral and physical education”
• 1862-1896 - “System of synthetic philosophy”
• 1879 - “Data of Ethics”
• 1884 - “Man and State”
• 1885 - “Philosophy and religion. The nature and reality of religion”
• 1891 - “Essays: scientific, political and philosophical”
• 1891 - “Justice”
• 1902 - “Facts and Comments”

Quotes

“A chicken is just a way for one egg to produce another egg.”

“Every man is free to do what he wishes, provided he does not violate the equal freedom of every other person.”

“Progress is not an accident, but a necessity.”

“The purpose of education is to form a being capable of governing himself, and not one who could only be governed by others.”

The English researcher Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) is a successor of the Comteian, positivist line in philosophy and sociology, the founder of the organic school in sociology, who made in the second half of the 19th century. a new major step forward towards the establishment of sociology as an independent science, especially in the field of a systemic and structural-functional approach to the study of society. His main work, “Foundations of Sociology” (1896), contained ideas and principles that long outlived their author and were very often borrowed by many of the largest sociologists of the 20th century.

At the heart of social Spencer’s views were based on 2 starting points, closely related to Darwin’s teaching:

1) Understanding society as a social an organism similar to a biological organism and subject to the same laws of organization, functioning and development.

2) The doctrine of universal evolution, according to which any phenomenon of the inorganic, organic and superorganic world is part of the general process of evolution, since there is only one evolution, which occurs in the same way everywhere.

Drawing a constant analogy between biological and social. organisms, Spencer identifies such common features as growth and complexity of structure, differentiation of functions and strengthening of their interaction with the structure. The relationships between social structures are similar to the interaction of the organs of a living organism. Meanwhile, society is a superorganism, because in it the individual is less dependent on social the whole and society as a whole, consisting of individual individuals, serves the good of its members. The main thing for Spencer is the direct study not of society as a whole, but of the individual and its other structural elements, their features and interactions. His sociological views are seen as an example of an individualistic approach to the study of society and its evolution. Spencer's naturalistic ideas are inseparable from his evolutionism in sociology.

The subject of sociology is the study of the growth, development, structure and administration of a social unit. Evolution is the source of any natural and social phenomenon; it is based on the manifestation and interaction of two opposing processes: integration and disintegration, because evolution – integration of matter and dispersion of motion.

Social evolution acts as an automatic, generally predetermined process of alternating development and decomposition of certain societies. In accordance with this, Spencer classified societies according to their degree of complexity, and social. saw progress in a consistent rise to increasingly complex levels of social organization. In this regard, he divided societies into:

Simple,

Complex,

Doubly,

Triple complex

based on the fact that the more developed a society is, the more complex it is, i.e. more differentiated in structural and functional terms.

Another classification of society is associated with the delimitation of their social organization depending on the nature of the dominant activity in it. Spencer distinguished:

Militant and

Industrial types of societies.

In the first, the social organization is based on a rigid hierarchical structure, a branched apparatus, high centralization, the individual is actually deprived of freedom, dissolved in society. Secondly, not external, but internal peaceful goals are pursued, the main task of the state is the education of members of society, and violence and coercion are replaced by conviction and law. The transition from the first to the second society occurs as a result of normal social life. evolution. Spencer opposed revolutionary social changes and was a supporter of social development, the preservation of the existing social system as a natural state of society, arising from the law of evolution of nature and society. He was an opponent of the principles of socialism, considering the elimination of competition and inequality unnecessary.

Spencer's merit in sociology lies primarily in the fact that for the first time he managed to develop a comprehensive and deep systemic approach to society for his time and combine it with evolutionism. He was the first to use such important categories of sociology as social. system, social structure, social function, social institute, social control. By highlighting the study of the structure of society and the functions of its elements, Spencer laid the foundations of the structural-functional direction in sociology, which later became widespread and influential (Parson, Merton).

The historical limitations of Spencer's teaching were manifested primarily in his biologism, mechanism, and evolutionism. Their insufficiency and limitations were revealed by the end of the 19th century, which caused criticism of his views both from natural scientists and philosophers, social scientists and sociologists.

SPENCER, HERBERT(Spencer, Herbert) (1820–1903) - English philosopher and sociologist, ideologist of social Darwinism.

Born into a teacher's family on April 27, 1820 in Derby. Until the age of 13, due to poor health, he did not attend school. In 1833 he began studying at Cambridge University, but after completing a three-year preparatory course he went home and began self-education. Subsequently, he never received any scientific degree or held academic positions, which he did not regret at all.

As a youth, Spencer was more interested in mathematics and science than in the humanities. In 1837 he began working as an engineer on the construction of the railway. His extraordinary abilities were already evident then: he invented an instrument for measuring the speed of locomotives. He soon realized that his chosen profession did not give him a strong financial position and did not satisfy his spiritual needs. In 1841 Spencer took a break from his engineering career and spent two years self-educating. In 1843 he returned to his former profession, heading an engineering bureau. Having received a patent in 1846 for the sawing and planing machine he had invented, Spencer unexpectedly ended his successful technical career and went into scientific journalism, while simultaneously working on his own works.

In 1848 he became an assistant editor of the Economist magazine, and in 1850 he completed his main work Social statics. This work was very difficult for the author - he began to suffer from insomnia. Subsequently, health problems only multiplied and resulted in a series of nervous breakdowns. In 1853 he received an inheritance from his uncle, which made him financially independent and allowed him to become a free scientist. After leaving his journalistic post, he devoted himself entirely to the development and publication of his works.

His project was to write and publish by subscription a multi-volume Synthetic philosophy– an encyclopedic system of all scientific knowledge. The first attempt was unsuccessful: publication of the series had to be stopped due to the philosopher’s overwork and lack of interest among readers. He found himself on the verge of poverty. He was saved by his acquaintance with an American publisher, who undertook to publish his works in the United States, where Spencer gained wide popularity earlier than in England. Gradually his name became known, the demand for his books increased, and by 1875 he completely covered his losses and began to make a profit from the publication of his works. During this period, such of his works as two-volume Principles of biology (The Principles of Biology, 2 vol., 1864–1867), three books Foundations of Psychology (The Principles of Psychology 1855, 1870–1872) and three-volume Foundations of Sociology (The Principles of Sociology, 3 vol., 1876-1896). His numerous works soon began to enjoy enormous popularity and were published in large editions in all countries of the world (including Russia)

The central idea of ​​all his work was the idea of ​​evolution. By evolution he understood the transition from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity. Spencer showed that evolution is an integral feature of the entire world around us and is observed not only in all areas of nature, but also in science, art, religion and philosophy.

Spencer distinguishes three types of evolution: inorganic, organic and supraorganic. Superorganic evolution is the subject of sociology, which deals with both the description of the process of development of society and the formulation of the basic laws according to which this evolution proceeds.

He compared the structure of society to a biological organism: individual parts are an analogue of individual parts of the organism, each of which performs its own function. He identified three systems of bodies (social institutions) - supporting (production), distribution (communication) and regulatory (managerial). Any society, in order to survive, must adapt to new environmental conditions - this is how natural selection occurs. In the course of such adaptation, an increasingly strong specialization of individual parts of society occurs. As a result, like an organism, society evolves from simpler forms to more complex ones.

Using the concepts of biological evolution to study social development (this was called social Darwinism), Spencer largely contributed to the popularization of the ideas of “natural selection” in society and the “struggle for existence,” which became the basis for “scientific” racism.

Another important idea of ​​his was the identification of two historical types of society - military and industrial. In doing so, he continued the tradition of formational analysis of social evolution established by Henri Saint-Simon and Karl Marx.

Military-type societies, according to Spencer, are characterized by the struggle for existence in the form of armed clashes, ending in the enslavement or destruction of the enemy. Cooperation in such a society is forced. Here, each worker is engaged in his craft and delivers the produced product to the consumer himself.

Gradually, society grows and there is a transition from home production to factory production. This is how a new type of society arises - industrial. Here, too, there is a struggle for existence, but in the form of competition. This type of struggle is associated with the abilities and intellectual development of individuals and ultimately brings benefits not only to the winners, but to the entire society as a whole. This society is based on voluntary cooperation.

Spencer's great merit was the recognition that the process of evolution is not straightforward. He pointed out that the industrial type of society could again regress into a military one. Criticizing popular socialist ideas, he called socialism a return to the principles of a military society with characteristic features of slavery.

During his lifetime, Spencer was recognized as one of the most outstanding thinkers of the 19th century. Nowadays, his contribution to the development of science, to the propaganda of evolutionist ideas, continues to be rated quite highly, although in the eyes of modern sociologists he loses in popularity, for example, to Emile Durkheim or Max Weber, whose works were much less famous during Spencer’s lifetime.

Works by G. Spencer (selected): Collected works, vol. 1–3, 5, 6. St. Petersburg, 1866–1869; Social statics. Statement of the laws that determine the happiness of mankind. St. Petersburg, 1872, St. Petersburg, 1906; Foundations of Sociology, vol. 1–2. St. Petersburg, 1898; Autobiography, part 1–2. St. Petersburg, Enlightenment, 1914 ; Scientific, political and philosophical experiments, vol. 1–3; Foundations of Psychology. – In the book: Spencer G., Tsiegen T. Associative psychology. M., AST, 1998.

Natalia Latova