Chapter XVIII: Conclusion

Even those who have criticised Spencer's system most severely have been generous in recognising the grandeur of his aim. Thus Principal James Iverach, while never sparing in his disclosure of what he regards as the weaknesses and inconsistencies of the Synthetic Philosophy, writes as follows: "It is a great thing to be constrained to recognise that a system is possible which may bring all human thought into unity, that there may be a formula which may express the law of change in all spheres where change happens, and that the universe as a whole and in all its parts forms one system. Suppose that the particular formula of Mr Spencer is inadequate, is a failure, yet is it not something worthy of recognition, that a man has lived who gave his life to the elaboration of this thought, and has so far succeeded as to make men think that such a consummation is possible and desirable? He has widened the thoughts of men, has enabled them to think in larger terms, and has done something to enable men to overcome a mere provincialism of thought. In an age of specialism he endeavoured to be universal. And such an endeavour is worthy of the highest admiration."

Perhaps the greatest of Spencer's services was his insistence on the Unity of Science, on the ideal of a unified outlook and inlook. It may be that his "Synthetic Philosophy" left most of the problems of philosophy out, but no one will deny the grandeur of his aim in seeking to present a unified system of scientific knowledge. As Prof. A. S. Pringle-Pattison has said: "It was much to hold aloft in an age of specialism the banner of completely unified knowledge; and this is, perhaps, after all, Spencer's chief claim to gratitude and remembrance. He brought home the idea of philosophic synthesis to a greater number of the Anglo-Saxon race than had ever conceived the idea before. His own synthesis, in the particular form he gave it, will necessarily crumble away. He speaks of it himself, indeed, at the close of _First Principles_ (ed. i.), modestly enough as a more or less rude attempt to accomplish a task which can be achieved only in the remote future and by the combined efforts of many, which cannot be completely achieved even then. But the idea of knowledge as a coherent whole, worked out on purely natural (though not, therefore, naturalistic) principles--a whole in which all the facts of human experience should be included--was a great idea with which to familiarise the minds of his contemporaries. It is the living germ of philosophy itself."

HERBERT SPENCER'S WORKS

(PUBLISHED BY MESSRS WILLIAMS & NORGATE)

_A System of Synthetic Philosophy._

First Principles. 1862 and 1900.

Principles of Biology. 2 vols. 1864 and 1898-9.

Principles of Psychology. 2 vols. 1855 and 1876.

Principles of Sociology, Vol. I. 1877.
Do. Vol. II. 1886.
Do. Vol. III. 1896.

Principles of Ethics, Vol. I. 1879.
Do. Vol. II. 1892.

Justice.

An Autobiography. 2 vols. 1904.

_Other Works._

The Study of Sociology. 1873.

Education. 1861.

Essays. 3 vols.

Social Statics. 1850.

The Man _v._ The State.

Facts and Comments. 1902.

Various Fragments. 1897.

Reasons for dissenting from the Philosophy of M. Comte. 1864.

A Rejoinder to Prof. Weismann. 1893.

Weismannism once more.

Factors of Organic Evolution. 1886.

_Descriptive Sociology._

Compiled and abstracted by Dr Duncan, Dr Scheppig, and Mr Collier. Folio. Boards.

English.

Ancient American Races.

Lowest Races, Negritos, Polynesians.

African Races.

Asiatic Races.

American Races.

Hebrews and Phoenicians.

French.

SOME REFERENCES TO LITERATURE

1876. Bowne, E. P. The Philosophy of Herbert Spencer: being an examination of the "First Principles" of his System. Nelson and Philipps, New York.

1897. Clodd, Edward. Pioneers of Evolution. Grant Richards, London. Pp. 250.

1889. Collins, F. Howard. An Epitome of the Synthetic Philosophy.

1904. Crozier, J. B. Mr Herbert Spencer and the Dangers of Specialism. _Fortnightly Review_, lxxv. Pp. 105-120.

1875. Fischer. Ueber das Gesetz der Entwickelung mit Ruecksicht auf Herbert Spencer.

1874. Fiske, John. Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy, based on the Doctrine of Evolution. MacMillan & Co., London.

1904. Gribble, Francis. Herbert Spencer: His Autobiography and His Philosophy. _Fortnightly Review_, lxxv. Pp. 984-995.

1879. Guthrie, Malcolm. On Mr Spencer's Formula of Evolution as an exhaustive statement of the changes of the universe. Truebner & Co., London. Pp. 267.

1882. Guthrie, Malcolm. On Mr Spencer's Unification of Knowledge. Truebner, London. Pp. 476.

1884. Guthrie, Malcolm. On Mr Spencer's Data of Ethics, London. Pp. 122.

Green. Mr Herbert Spencer and Mr G. H. Lewes: their application of the Doctrine of Evolution to Thought. _Contemporary Review._ December 1877, March and July, 1878.

1894. Hudson, W. H. An introduction to the philosophy of Herbert Spencer. Popular Edition. Watts & Co., 1904. Pp. 124.

1904. Hudson, W. H. Herbert Spencer's Autobiography. _Independent Review_, July.

1904. Hudson, W. H. Herbert Spencer. A Character Study. _Fortnightly Review_, January.

1904. Iverach, James. Herbert Spencer. _The Critical Review_, xiv. Pp. 99-112, 195-209.

1899. Mackintosh, Robert. From Comte to Benjamin Kidd. The appeal to biology or evolution for human guidance. Macmillan & Co., London. Pp. 287.

1900. Macpherson, Hector. Herbert Spencer. The man and his work. Chapman & Hall, London. Pp. 227.

1872. Martineau, James. The Place of Mind in Nature. Williams & Norgate, London.

1879. Martineau, James. Essays. 2 vols. Truebner & Co., London.

1882. Michelet. Spencer's System der Philosophie. Spencer's Lehre von dem Unerkennbaren. Leipzig, 1891.

1898. Morgan, C. Lloyd. Mr Herbert Spencer's Biology. Natural Science, xiii. pp. 377-383.

1900. Pearson, K. The Grammar of Science, 2nd. Edition. A. & C. Black, London. Pp. 548.

1904. Pringle-Pattison, A. S. The Life and Philosophy of Herbert Spencer. _The Quarterly Review_, vol. 200, pp. 240-267.

1902. Sidgwick, Henry. Lectures on the Ethics of T. H. Green, Mr Herbert Spencer and J. Martineau. Macmillan & Co., London, Pp. 374.

1905. Sidgwick, Henry. The Philosophy of Mr Herbert Spencer. In "The Philosophy of Kant and other lectures." Macmillan & Co., London. Pp. 475.

1904. Sorley, W. R. The Ethics of Naturalism: a criticism, 2nd Edition, Blackwood, Edinburgh. Pp. 338.

1892. Sorley, W. R. Herbert Spencer. Article in Chambers's Encyclopaedia.

1879. Sully, James. Article, "Evolution." Encyclopaedia Britannica, ninth edition.

1899. Ward, James. Naturalism and agnosticism. 2 vols. A. & C. Black, London. Pp. 302 and 291.

_British Quarterly Review._ October 1873, and January 1877.

INDEX

Acquired Characters, transmission of, 177

Adaptation, 119

America, visit to, 49

"Anti-Aggression League," 48

Athenaeum Club, 42

Autobiography, 52

Baer's, Von, Law, 139, 140

Bateson, 190

Biologist, Spencer as, 93

_Biology, Principles of_, 94

"Blastodermic," 39

Body and Mind, 236

Born's experiments, 163

Carlyle, 30

Cell-life, 120

Comte, August, 29, 243

Creation, 145

Darwin, 165, 180

Darwinian Theory, 263

Death, 51

Descent, theory of, 146

Development, 113

_Development Hypothesis_, 31

Driesch, 163

Duncan, Prof., "The New Knowledge," 210

Dynamic element in life, 102

_Economist, The_, Spencer as sub-editor of, 28

_Education_, Spencer's, 259

Equilibration, direct, 197
Indirect, 198

_Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative_, 35

Evolution, factors of, 180
External factors, 195
Internal, 196
Universal, 209
Inorganic, 210

Evolutionism, summary of Spencer's, 212

Ewart, Prof. Cossar, 191

Experience and Intuitions, 238

_First Principles_, 38

Geddes, Prof., 31

Genesis, 123

George Eliot, friendship with, 31

Germ-cells, 150

Germ-cells and Sperm-cells, 167

Giddings, Prof. F. H., 250

Gribble, Francis, 83, 86

Growth, 110

Heredity, problems of, 156

Hudson, Prof., 51, 80, 85, 212, 239

Huxley, friendship with, 32

_Illogical Geology_, 36

"Inconceivability," 174

Individual Organism, comparison between it and Society, 253

Intuitions, Experience and, 238

Invalid bed, invention of, 41

Isolation, 190

Italy, tour in, 42

Iverach, Prof. James, 219

Jennings, H. S., 235

Joly, Prof., 259

Lewes, G. H., 30

Life, definition of, 98
dynamic element in, 102
mechanism of, 107
origin of, 220

Malthusianism, 262

Neo-malthusianism, 264

Man, Ascent of, 224

_Manners and Fashions_, 33

Mendelism, 208

Metabolism, 98

Metaphysics, Spencer's, 270

Mill, J. S., 39

Mind, evolution of, 221, 233
Body and, 236

_Method in Education_, 33

Morgan, Prof. Lloyd, 93, 105, 171

_Music, the origin and function of_, 34

Nutrition and Reproduction, 125

Organic matter, 96

Pearson, Prof. Karl, 108, 217

_Philosophy of Style_, 70

Physiological Units, 157

_Physiology of Laughter_, 36

Population, a theory of, 192
question, 260

Pringle-Pattison, Prof. A. S., 89

_Prison ethics_, 36

_Progress, its Law and Cause_, 34, 193

_Psychology, Principles of_, 33, 235

_Railway Morals and Railway Policy_, 33

Regeneration, 118

"Reader, The," 39

Religion, early attitude to, 271

Religion, later attitude, 274

Reproduction, Nutrition and, 125

Schaeffle, 254

_Science, the Genesis of_, 33

Selection, 186, 194, 196, 204

Sidgwick, Prof., 241, 243-5

_Social Organism, The_, 36, 252

Special Creation, 145

_Social Statics_, 29

Sociological Society, 246

Sociology, 44, 242
criticism of, 243
and history, 247
data of, Spencer's, 249

Spencer, Herbert, ancestry, 1;
boyhood, 7;
characteristics, emotional and ethical, 74;
intellectual, 54;
physical, 52;
engineering, 17;
human relations, 82;
inventions, 18, 27;
limitations, 59;
methods of work, 65;
delight in nature, 81

Stout, Prof. G. F., 233, 237

Structure and function, 115

_Synthetic Philosophy_, finished, 50

_Transcendental Physiology_, 34, 193

Truth, test of, 241

Variations, 182

Vries, H. de, 165, 190

Wallace, A. R., 180, 227

Ward, Prof. James, 218, 237

Waste and Repair, 116

Weismann, germ-plasm theory, 159
sexual reproduction, 129
germinal selection, 186

"X" Club, 39

Youmans, Prof., 40

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