Herbert Spencer

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Herbert Spencer was a 19th-century English philosopher and sociologist best known for applying evolutionary theory to social and ethical issues and popularizing the concept of "survival of the fittest."


Statements (58)
Predicate Object
instanceOf essayist
human
philosopher
political theorist
sociologist
birthDate 1820-04-27
birthPlace Derby, England
burialPlace Highgate Cemetery, London
coinedTerm survival of the fittest
countryOfCitizenship United Kingdom
deathDate 1903-12-08
deathPlace Brighton, England
era 19th-century philosophy
ethnicGroup English
fieldOfWork education theory
epistemology
ethics
metaphysics
philosophy
political philosophy
sociology
influenced American social Darwinists
Friedrich Hayek
Lester Frank Ward
William Graham Sumner
Émile Durkheim
influencedBy Auguste Comte
Charles Darwin
Herbert Spencer's father, William George Spencer
John Stuart Mill
Thomas Malthus
languageOfWorkOrName English
movement classical liberalism
individualism
positivism
social Darwinism
name Herbert Spencer
notableIdea evolutionary ethics
laissez-faire social policy
law of equal freedom
organic analogy of society
social evolutionism
survival of the fittest
notableWork Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical
First Principles
Social Statics
The Man Versus the State
The Principles of Psychology
The Principles of Sociology
occupation philosopher
political theorist
sociologist
writer
philosophicalSchool evolutionary philosophy
utilitarianism (broadly associated)
positionHeld editor of The Economist (early career, sub-editor)
viewOnGovernment advocated minimal state intervention
viewOnReligion agnosticism


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