Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Australian Journal of Politics and History, published by University of Queensland Press on September 1, 2002. The length of the article is 513 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Equal Freedom and Utility: Herbert Spencer's Liberal Utilitarianism. (book review)
Author: R.J. Halliday
Publication: The Australian Journal of Politics and History (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 2002
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Volume: 48Issue: 3Page: 446(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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

Book Description
Economist HENRY GEORGE (1839-1897) was, at the height of his popularity in the 1880s and 1890s, considered the third most famous American, behind Mark Twain and Thomas Edison, and his liberal philosophies on taxation, copyrights, poverty issues, and more continue to influence progressive movements today.Here, in this 1892 work, George takes on Herbert Spencer, the English political theorist best remembered as the father of the concept of social darwinism... and a philosopher whose basic stance on numerous economic issues differed greatly from George's. From property rights to the nature of the battle between individuals and the state, George reexamines Spencer's writings from his own humanistic perspective, echoing debates we continue to hear today. ALSO FROM COSIMO: George's Progress and Poverty, The Science of Political Economy, The Condition of Labor, Protection of Free Trade, and Social Problems. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Elegant, breathtaking - metaphysics made beautiful
This is probably the greatest tribute by one great philosopher to another. George Santayana, at once one of the 20th century's most reasonable thinkers as well as its most poetic, pays tribute to 19th century British philosopher Herbert Spencer. The first two pages of this essay are extremely beautiful, and, for the most part, on-target. Santayana honors Spencer by considering his least popular doctrine, that of "The Unknowable," as a mistaken characterization of an important insight. This essay became an important run-through, for Santayana, of his basic ontology, later elaborated in "Scepticism and Animal Faith" and in the four books of "The Realms of Being." This may be one of the best places to start with Santayana - or to re-evaluate Spencer's metaphysics. Santayana places himself in Spencer's camp, which is that of a practical man, a "common sense" man, who nevertheless does not fall prey to the limits of everyday "common sense." Spencer and Santayana, in seeing the obvious as well as what lies beyond (behind?) the obvious, prove themselves to be important thinkers. The only trouble with this essay is that it is so beautiful that one can lose the train of thought in elegant phrases and apt metaphors. The solution? Read again! ... Read more

Book Description
This collection of the highly regarded Herbert Spencer Lectures (Oxford University) is intended to survey the profound influence on many disciplines of the Darwinian theory of evolution by natural selection.The noted contributors include A.J. Cain, the Hon. W.G. Runciman, R.J. Herrnstein,
Maurice Godelier, Bernard Williams, and E.H. Gombrich. Their authoritative observations review the impact of Darwinism in art, philosophy, sociology, psychology, and other fields of human knowledge and endeavor. ... Read more

Book Description
In this eclectic collection of essays, distinguished scholars from different and specialized disciplines discuss aspects of sex, gender, and gender and society. In his contribution to this series of essays on Gender and Society, Peter Goodfellow states, 'sex, the biological separation into male and female, is controlled by DNA and is determined by DNA.Gender, the arbitrary social division between masculine and feminine, is a social construct that involves interaction between an individual and society.'The definition of gender offered by Goodfellow is cogently developed by Germaine Greer in her essay on women as victims of rapeDSone of the newest and most controversial aspects of modern criminology. Susan Watkins suggests that the understanding of gender has influenced the analysis of population change, the efforts by activists to ensure reductions in fertility internationally, and the acceptance of birth control in local communities in Kenya.This analysis is complimented by MicheleLe Doeuff in a discussion of the complex interplay between reduced fertility, increased literacy, and the function of work in the'everyday life of every woman whatever her social class or level of education.'The question of how the sexes differ in their perception and processing of information about their external world is tackled by Lucia Jacobs within a biological and evolutionary context. She proposes that sexual selection should be given credit for the rapid evolution of our unique abilities and complex culture concluding that 'it is the female that is the smaller, the "ecological" sex, best adapted to survive in the ecological niche of the species, and it is the male who carries the heavier burden or handicap of sexual selection, his fitness dependent on arbitrary traits that reduce his competitive ability as a human being, although they are all too necessary for his competitive ability as a man.'The contribution of the sociobiologist Sarah Hrdy focussed on sexual selection, drawing on a wide range of research on the physiological and behavioural responses of subhuman primates but, appropriately, drawing her inspiration from Spencer's own writings on physical beauty and its consequences for posterity. The chapters in this book were originally delivered as The Herbert Spencer Lectures in 1995 at Oxford University. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of Herbert Spencer, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 1899 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author