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FIRST PRINCIPLES By HERBERT SPENCER Author of DATA OF ETHICS, EDUCATION etc., etc. j REPRINTED FROM THE FIFTH LONDON EDITION, UNALTERED AND UNABRIDGED A. L. BURT COMPANY, J PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK HERBERT SPENCER PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION To the first edition of this work there should have been prefixed a definite indication of its origin and the misap prehensions that have arisen in the absence of such indica tions ought before now to have shown me the need for supplying it. Though reference was made in a note on the first page of the original preface to certain essays entitled Pro gress Its Law and Cause and Transcendental Pnysi ology, as containing generalizations which were to be elaborated in the System of Philosophy there set forth in programme, yet the dates of these essays were not given nor was there any indication of their cardinal importance as containing, in a brief form, the general theory of evolu tion. No clear evidence to the contrary standing in the way, there has been very generally uttered and accepted the belief that this work, and the works following it, originated after, and resulted from, the special doctrine contained in Mr. Darwins Origin of Species The essay on Progress Its Law and Cause, co-exten sive in the theory it contains with chapters xv, xvi, xvii, and xx, in part ii, of this work, was first published in the Westminster Review for April, 1857 and the essay in which is briefly set forth the general truth elaborated in chapter xix, originally appeared under the title of The Ultimate Laws of Physiology, in the National Review for October, 1857. Further, I may point out that in the first edition of The Principles of Psychology published in July, 1855, mental phenomena are interpreted entirely from the evolution point of view and the words used in iv PREFACE. the titles of sundry chapters imply the presence, at that date, of ideas more widely applied in the essays just named. As the first edition of Origin of Species did not make its appearance till October, 1859, it is manifest that the theory set forth in this work and its successors had an origin independent of, and prior to, that which is com monly assumed to have initiated it. The distinctness of origin might, indeed, have been in ferred from the work itself, which deals with evolution at large inorganic, organic, and super-organic in terms of matter and motion and touches but briefly on those par ticular processes so luminously exhibited by Mr. Darwin. In 159 only p. 387 when illustrating the law of The Multiplication of Effects, as universally displayed, have I had occasion to refer to the doctrine set forth in Origin of Species pointing out that the general cause I had previously assigned for the production of divergent varieties of organisms would not suffice to account for all the facts without that special cause disclosed by Mr. Darwin. The absence of this passage would, of course, leave a serious gap in the general argument but the re mainder of the work would stand exactly as it now does. I do not make this explanation in the belief that the prevailing misapprehension will thereby soon be rectified for I am conscious that, once having become current, wrong beliefs of this kind long persist all disproofs not withstanding. Nevertheless, I yield to the suggestion that unless I state the facts as they stand I shall continue to countenance the misapprehension, and cannot expect it to cease. With the exception of unimportant changes in one of the notes, and some typographical corrections, the text of this edition is identical with that of the l st. May, 1880. PREFACE. THIS volume is the first of a series described in a pros pectus originally distributed in March, I860, Of that prospectus the annexed is a reprint. A SYSTEM OF PHILOSOPHY. ME. HEEBEET SPEKCEE proposes to issue in periodical parts a connected series of works which he has for several years been preparing... ... Read more

Book Description
The ideas of the English philosopher Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) profoundlyshaped Victorian thought regarding evolutionary theory, the philosophy ofscience, sociology, and politics. In his day, Spencer's works rankedalongside those of Darwin and Marx in their importance to the developmentof disciplines as wide-ranging as sociology, anthropology, politicaltheory, philosophy, and psychology. Yet during his lifetime--and certainlyin the decades that followed--Spencer has been widely misunderstood. Bothlauded and disparaged as the father of Social Darwinism (it was Spencer whocoined the phrase "survival of the fittest"), and as an apologist forindividualism and unrestrained capitalism, he was, in fact, none of these;he was instead a subtle and complex thinker.

In his major new intellectual biography of Spencer, Mark Francis usesarchival material and contemporary printed sources to create a fascinatingportrait of a man who attempted to explain modern life in all itsbiological, psychological, and sociological forms through a uniquephilosophical and scientific system that bridged the gap between empiricismand metaphysics. Vastly influential in England and beyond--particularly theUnited States and Asia--his philosophy was, as Francis shows, coherent andrigorous. Despite the success he found in the realm of ideas, Spencer wasan unhappy man. Francis reveals how Spencer felt permanently crippled bythe Christian values he had absorbed during childhood, and was incapable ofromantic love, as became clear during his relationship with the novelistGeorge Eliot.

Elegantly written, provocative, and rich in insight, Herbert Spencer andthe Invention of Modern Life is an exceptional work of scholarship that notonly dispels the misinformation surrounding Spencer but also illuminatesthe broader cultural and intellectual history of the nineteenth century. ... Read more

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This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's preservation reformatting program. ... Read more

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Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) was an English philosopher, best known for his scientific writings. Together with Charles Darwin and Thomas Huxley he was responsible for the acceptance of the theory of evolution. His well-known essay on Education: Intellectual, Moral and Physical was considered one of the most useful and profound books written on education.

These four essays on education were originally published between 1854 and 1859. In this important work on educational theory Spencer criticizes the humanities in education, and emphasizes the importance of science. His conclusion was that "for discipline as well as for guidance, science is of chiefest value. In all its effects, learning the meaning of things is better than learning the meaning of words"

Spencer was the most uncompromising opponent of national education under a central government. While addressing himself to the question, "What knowledge is of most worth [to the individual]?," he argues for the relegation of classical studies alongside an elevation of the importance of the sciences, especially those concerned with self-preservation and the maintenance of good health. But it was Spencer's last essay, "Physical Education" which is the most valuable in the book. It was written at a time when little attention was given to such matters as food, clothing, play, and sleep. He criticizes severely the absurd restrictions placed upon growing girls by those in authority in the "Establishments for Young Ladies." His remarks had a considerable influence upon the succeeding generation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The font size is too too too too small
This review is specifically about the Elibron Classics edition of this work.(ISBN 0-543-93159-5)The font is so small that it is almost unreadable.I would seriously recommend buying a different edition.I personally am planning on doing just that.

A classic Victorian-era philosophy book
This volume concerns education of the physical, moral and spiritual nature, in addition to contemplating what knowledge is worth. Herbert Spencer was the pre-eminent philosopher and sociologist of the Victorian era in Britain; his views on "social Darwinism" are largely discredited today, but still latent. In his book SOCIAL STATICS, Spencer stressed the importance of individual freedom and the inevitability of human progress - with white males at the forefront of the vanguard of progress. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Lucid, Penetrating, and Dripping with Wisdom
This book, deservedly, is a classic.Although relatively short, it is chock-full of insights -- many of which anticipate the important work decades later by F.A. Hayek.Spencer's passion for freedom, and hisunderstanding of the nature of politicized and depoliticized societies, wasdeep.This is an inspiring work. ... Read more

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Keeping in mind these general truths, we shall be in a condition to understand certain causes of effect in composition now to be considered. Every perception received, and every conception realized, entailing some amount of waste--or, as Liebig would say, some change of matter in the brain; and the efficiency of the faculties subject to this waste being thereby temporarily, though often but momentarily, diminished; the resulting partial inability must affect the acts of perception and conception that immediately succeed.Download Description
Keeping in mind these general truths, we shall be in a condition to understand certain causes of effect in composition now to be considered. Every perception received, and every conception realized, entailing some amount of waste--or, as Liebig would say, some change of matter in the brain; and the efficiency of the faculties subject to this waste being thereby temporarily, though often but momentarily, diminished; the resulting partial inability must affect the acts of perception and conception that immediately succeed. ... Read more

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This book presents Spencer's classic attempt to expose the flaws in socialism and to assert political individualism as the best way to guarantee social progress. It will be of interest to both undergraduates and specialists in politics, political theory, social policy, sociology and history. ... Read more

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This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's preservation reformatting program. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

Beyond the obvious
Can't agree with the reviewer below about the dry hard-going style of the book - in fact it must be one of the most engaging academic works I've read (took less than a day). I just found it not a trivial matter that when someone is writing about the flaws of both "traditional" and "progressive" education which thwart their attempts to engage children's minds and imagination - then he himself be able to avoid the same mistakes he criticizes. And Egan goes far beyond this. He's a great story-teller, and he has a great story to tell - about the "permanent revolution" in education that has been going on forever, but succeeded very little, and the likely reasons for this.

Of course education - like the youth in general - has been spoiled since Plato, if not the upper Neolithic. So beware - you might not be the first one to seek a cure, and you definitely wouldn't be an exception if the cure you devised - back to the more natural types of learning! just let the child follow her natural course of delevopment and be a support! just take off from where the child is currently situated in terms of "stages"! just let her learn how to learn... would turn in results more drastically defective than the problems you began with. The point Egan makes is that these proposed progressive solutions the development of which he so engagingly follows from Spencer through Dewey and Piaget to our days -
together with studies in cognitive psychology and neuroscience of learning etc. are of modest help if we're not philosophically soundly positioned in what is unavoidably a philosophical problem - how do we devise being a wholesome human being? Only by outlining a qualitative theory of development in answer to this can we have real use of quantitative test results, or even decide how relevant are they to our educational aims.

So even though basing his theory naturally on observations (and not an insignificant amount at that), Egan doesn't try to strike us with his latest research findings as to the deep seated nature of children's thinking at this or that stage and respective cognitive capacities, which have often had the appalling tendency to overlook what children CAN do (perhaps much better than adults) in favor of what they can't - but envisages his own "not merely objective" approach to teaching as story-telling. A form of education that would make use of the story-form with all it's accompanying characteristics such as the narrative structure (with beginning, unfolding, and an end-conclusion), binary oppositions, rhythm, metaphor etc. which are all basic tools of thinking and categorization in general. It's remarkable how little attention is paid to these motives in textbooks, as if they were a threat to serious scholarship and objectivity (regarding the roots of such an attitude, see Havelock's excellent "Preface to Plato") on the one hand, and on the other - as if they could ever be evaded in principle, regardless of whether we "like" them or not. (see Lakoff and Johnson's "Philosophy in the Flesh" for instance). The author himself definitely knows how to use these devices of information organization when building his philosophical anthropology for the development modern man, both descriptive and proscriptive.

Egan really brings us closer to the center of problems facing us when trying to understand and improve the situation of our current educational practices. A vastly important and very accessible work.

A word of warning though - if you're already familiar with some of Egan's prior work, you probably won't find so much new stories added to the edifice with each new book, as rather getting a look from a different angle.

Getting it Right in Hindsight.
This is an outstanding title for a book and I could not wait for it to arrive in the mail.The author proves to be quite witty and authoritative regarding the history of education and the way in which it has been influenced, and in turn dominated, by the progressives.His recapitulation of the career of the Herbert Spencer was quite insightful but no where is Egan stronger than in the chapter that discusses the impact that progressivism has had on the study of history and all other forms of knowledge that are not directly useful to the real world (such as Latin).

Many of his observations about progressive education are worth highlighting, but the reason I could not give "Getting it Wrong from the Beginning" a higher rating is that I did not find the book to be particularly readable.It is a dry slog that takes longer than one would expect based on its less than 200 pages.Had he included more examples from our modern public schools I would have found it more useful as a reference work.Egan's put considerable thought into his positions though so the book is definitely worth a serious skim.

Getting it wrong form the beginning
It has been a long time since I read a book that both frustrated me and at the same time challenged the most fundamental "truths" that I have been taught about education. It is easy to both love some of the insights in this book and then be left lost trying to understand the alternative. I think I would of gained a better understanding of Egan's insights if I had read the predecessor The Educated Mind. One of Egan's main arguments is that the progressive school and its theories have resulted in "the reduction of academic content in primary schools in the 20th century". All the emphasis on making learning "natural" and "play-like" has cheated American students out of acquiring "cultural-cognitive tools" which should be the basis of all education.He challenges many of the long held beliefs of education and if anything I would recommend this book as a way of reconsidering the psychological pillars of education that all new teachers are trained in. ... Read more

Book Description
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) was an English philosopher, best known for his scientific writings. Together with Charles Darwin and Thomas Huxley he was responsible for the acceptance of the theory of evolution. His well-known essay on Education, Intellectual, Moral and Physical was considered one of the most useful and profound books written on education.

He projected a vast 10-volume work, Synthetic Philosophy, in which all phenomena are interpreted according to the principle of evolutionary progress.

Although no longer influential in biology, his extension of his theory of evolution to psychology and sociology remains important. His "Social Darwinism" was particularly influential on early evolutionary economists such as Thorstein Veblen.

The Study of Sociology was Spencer's popular account of his leading sociological doctrines. Its publication marked the emergence of Spencer as the popular philosopher of the Victorian age. It was a highly influential work in terms of the impetus it gave to the academic pursuit of the new science of sociology and it also played an important role in shaping the outlook of many thoughtful lay persons in the Victorian reading public. Sociology became a discipline in the United States because of Spencer's impressive work. ... Read more