Spencer, Herbert (1820–1903)

English philosopher. He wrote Social Statics (1851), expounding his laissez-faire views on social and political problems. In 1862 he began his ten-volume System of Synthetic Philosophy, in which he extended Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to the entire field of human knowledge. The chief of the ten volumes are First Principles (1862) and Principles of Biology (1864–67), Principles of Sociology (1876–96), and Principles of Ethics (1879–93).

Spencer was born in Derby and was largely self-taught; he worked as a railway engineer before entering journalism, and was a subeditor on The Economist.

Other works are Principles of Psychology 1855, Essays on Education 1861, The Study of Sociology 1873, Man versus the State 1884, and Autobiography 1904.