Herbert Spencer basic. Spencer, Herbert - main ideas. Spencer's early years

SPENCER, HERBERT(Spencer, Herbert) (1820–1903) - English philosopher and sociologist, ideologist of Social Darwinism.

Born into a teacher's family on April 27, 1820 in Derby. Until the age of 13, due to poor health, he did not attend school. In 1833 he began studying at Cambridge University, but after completing a three-year preparatory course he went home and began self-education. Subsequently, he never received any scientific degree or held academic positions, which he did not regret at all.

As a youth, Spencer was more interested in mathematics and science than in the humanities. In 1837 he began working as an engineer on the construction of the railway. His extraordinary abilities were already evident then: he invented an instrument for measuring the speed of locomotives. He soon realized that his chosen profession did not give him a strong financial position and did not satisfy his spiritual needs. In 1841 Spencer took a break from his engineering career and spent two years self-educating. In 1843 he returned to his former profession, heading an engineering bureau. Having received a patent in 1846 for the sawing and planing machine he had invented, Spencer unexpectedly ended his successful technical career and went into scientific journalism, while simultaneously working on his own works.

In 1848 he became an assistant editor of the Economist magazine, and in 1850 he completed his main work Social statics. This work was very difficult for the author - he began to suffer from insomnia. Subsequently, health problems only multiplied and resulted in a series of nervous breakdowns. In 1853 he received an inheritance from his uncle, which made him financially independent and allowed him to become a free scientist. After leaving his journalistic post, he devoted himself entirely to the development and publication of his works.

His project was to write and publish by subscription a multi-volume Synthetic philosophy– an encyclopedic system of all scientific knowledge. The first attempt was unsuccessful: publication of the series had to be stopped due to the philosopher’s overwork and lack of interest among readers. He found himself on the verge of poverty. He was saved by his acquaintance with an American publisher, who undertook to publish his works in the United States, where Spencer gained wide popularity earlier than in England. Gradually his name became known, the demand for his books increased, and by 1875 he completely covered his losses and began to make a profit from the publication of his works. During this period, such of his works as two-volume Principles of biology (The Principles of Biology, 2 vol., 1864–1867), three books Foundations of Psychology (The Principles of Psychology 1855, 1870–1872) and three-volume Foundations of Sociology (The Principles of Sociology, 3 vol., 1876-1896). His numerous works soon began to enjoy enormous popularity and were published in large editions in all countries of the world (including Russia)

The central idea of all his work was the idea of evolution. By evolution he understood the transition from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity. Spencer showed that evolution is an integral feature of the entire world around us and is observed not only in all areas of nature, but also in science, art, religion and philosophy.

Spencer distinguishes three types of evolution: inorganic, organic and supraorganic. Superorganic evolution is the subject of sociology, which deals with both the description of the process of development of society and the formulation of the basic laws according to which this evolution proceeds.

He compared the structure of society to a biological organism: individual parts are an analogue of individual parts of the organism, each of which performs its own function. He identified three systems of bodies (social institutions) - supporting (production), distribution (communication) and regulatory (managerial). Any society, in order to survive, must adapt to new environmental conditions - this is how natural selection occurs. In the course of such adaptation, an increasingly strong specialization of individual parts of society occurs. As a result, like an organism, society evolves from simpler forms to more complex ones.

Using the concepts of biological evolution to study social development (this was called social Darwinism), Spencer largely contributed to the popularization of the ideas of “natural selection” in society and the “struggle for existence,” which became the basis for “scientific” racism.

Another important idea of his was the identification of two historical types of society - military and industrial. In doing so, he continued the tradition of formational analysis of social evolution established by Henri Saint-Simon and Karl Marx.

Military-type societies, according to Spencer, are characterized by the struggle for existence in the form of armed clashes, ending in the enslavement or destruction of the enemy. Cooperation in such a society is forced. Here, each worker is engaged in his craft and delivers the produced product to the consumer himself.

Gradually, society grows and there is a transition from home production to factory production. This is how a new type of society arises - industrial. Here, too, there is a struggle for existence, but in the form of competition. This type of struggle is associated with the abilities and intellectual development of individuals and ultimately brings benefits not only to the winners, but also to society as a whole. This society is based on voluntary cooperation.

Spencer's great merit was the recognition that the process of evolution is not straightforward. He pointed out that the industrial type of society could again regress into a military one. Criticizing popular socialist ideas, he called socialism a return to the principles of a military society with characteristic features of slavery.

During his lifetime, Spencer was recognized as one of the most outstanding thinkers of the 19th century. Nowadays, his contribution to the development of science, to the propaganda of evolutionist ideas, continues to be rated quite highly, although in the eyes of modern sociologists he loses in popularity, for example, to Emile Durkheim or Max Weber, whose works were much less famous during Spencer’s lifetime.

Works by G. Spencer (selected): Collected works, vol. 1–3, 5, 6. St. Petersburg, 1866–1869; Social statics. Statement of the laws that determine the happiness of mankind. St. Petersburg, 1872, St. Petersburg, 1906; Foundations of Sociology, vol. 1–2. St. Petersburg, 1898; Autobiography, part 1–2. St. Petersburg, Enlightenment, 1914 ; Scientific, political and philosophical experiments, vol. 1–3; Foundations of Psychology. – In the book: Spencer G., Tsiegen T. Associative psychology. M., AST, 1998.

Natalia Latova

Herbert Spencer(1820-1903) - English philosopher and sociologist; he shared Comte's ideas about social statics and social dynamics. According to his teaching, society is similar to a biological organism and can be represented as a whole, consisting of interconnected and interdependent parts. Just as the human body consists of organs - kidneys, lungs, heart, etc., society consists of various institutions such as family, religion, law. Let us note that each element is irreplaceable, since it implements its own socially necessary function.

In a social organism, Spencer distinguishes an internal subsystem, which is in charge of preserving the organism and adapting to environmental conditions, and an external one, whose functions will be the regulation and control of the relationship of the organism with the external environment. There is also an intermediate subsystem responsible for communication between the first two. Spencer's society as a whole is systemic in nature and insensitive to the simple sum of the actions of individuals.

According to the degree of integration, Spencer distinguishes between simple, complex, and doubly complex societies; According to the levels of development, he distributes them between two poles, the lower of which constitutes a military society, and the upper - an industrial one. Military societies are characterized by the presence of a single system of belief, and cooperation between individuals is achieved through violence and coercion; here the state dominates over individuals, the individual exists for the state. Industrial societies, dominated by the economic system, are characterized by democratic principles, a variety of belief systems, and the voluntary cooperation of individuals. Here it is not the individual who exists for the state, but the state for individuals. Spencer thinks of social development as a movement from military societies to industrial ones, although in some cases he considers the reverse movement possible - to military societies, for example, in the context of socialist ideas. However, as societies develop, they become more diverse and industrial society exists in many varieties.

Sociology of G. Spencer

Herbert Spencer(1820-1903) - English philosopher and sociologist, one of the founders of positivism. He worked as an engineer on the railway. He became the successor of the positivism (philosophical and sociological) of O. Comte; His ideas were also influenced by D. Hume and J. S. Mill, Kantianism.

The philosophical basis of his sociology is formed, first of all, by the position that the world is divided into the knowable (the world of phenomena) and the unknowable (the “thing in itself”, the world of essences). The goal of philosophy, science, sociology will be the knowledge of similarities and differences, analogies, etc. in the phenomena of things to our consciousness. An entity unknowable by human consciousness will be the cause of all phenomena about which philosophy, religion, and science make guesses.
It is worth noting that the basis of the world, Spencer believed, is formed by universal evolution, which represents the continuous interaction of two processes: the integration of bodily particles and their disintegration, leading to their balance and stability of things.

Spencer is the founder of organic sociology, according to which society arises as a result of the long evolution of living things and itself is an organism similar to a living one. It is worth noting that it consists of organs, each of which implements certain functions. Let us note that each society has an inherent function of survival in the natural and social environment, which has the nature of competition - a struggle, which results in the most adapted societies. The evolution of nature (inanimate and living) is an ascent from simple to complex, from low-functional to multifunctional, etc. Evolution, as an integrative process, is opposed to decomposition. The struggle between evolution and decomposition is the essence of the process movement in the world.

Social organisms are the pinnacle of natural evolution. Spencer gives examples of social evolution. Peasant farms are gradually united into large feudal systems. The latter, in turn, unite into provinces. Provinces create kingdoms, which turn into empires. All this is accompanied by the emergence of new governing bodies. As a result of the complication of social formations, the functions of their constituent parts change. For example, at the beginning of the evolutionary process, the family had reproductive, economic, educational and political functions. But gradually they moved to specialized social bodies: the state, church, school, etc.

It is worth saying that each social organism, according to Spencer, consists of three main organs (systems): 1) production (agriculture, fishing, craft); 2) distribution (trade, roads, transport, etc.); 3) managerial (elders, state, church, etc.) It is important to know that the management system plays a large role in social organisms, defining goals, coordinating other bodies, and mobilizing the population. It is worth noting that it operates on the basis of fear of the living (state) and the dead (church). Thus, Spencer was one of the very first to give a fairly clear structural and functional description of social organisms: countries, regions, settlements (cities and villages)

Spencer's Mechanism of Social Evolution

How is evolution (slow development) of social organisms carried out according to Spencer? First of all, due to population growth, but also due to the unification of people into social groups and classes. People unite in social systems either for defense and attack, resulting in “military types of societies,” or for the production of consumer goods, resulting in “industrial societies.” There is a constant struggle between these types of societies.

The mechanism of social evolution includes three factors:

people are initially unequal in their characters, abilities, living conditions, resulting in differentiation of roles, functions, power, property, prestige;
there is a tendency towards increased specialization of roles, growing social inequality (power, wealth, education);
society is divided into economic, political, national, religious, professional, etc. classes, which causes its destabilization and weakening.

With the help of the mechanism of social evolution, humanity goes through four stages of development:

simple and isolated human societies, in which people are engaged in approximately the same activities;
military societies, characterized by temporary territory, division of labor, and the leading role of a centralized political organization;
industrial societies, characterized by a permanent territory, constitution and system of laws;
civilizations, which include national states, federations of states, empires.

The main thing in this typology of societies will be the dichotomy of military and industrial society. Below this dichotomy according to Spencer is shown in tabular form (Table 1)

According to G. Spencer, at the first stage the development of social science was under the complete control of theology, which remained the dominant type of knowledge and faith until about 1750. Then, as a result of the secularization of society, theology was denied the status of a privileged science, and this role passed to philosophy: not God, the priest, but the philosopher, the thinker began to be considered the source (and criterion) of true knowledge. At the end of the 18th century. philosophers were replaced by scientists (naturalists), who introduced into scientific circulation the empirical substantiation of the truth of knowledge, and not the authority of God or philosophy. It is worth noting that they rejected the philosophical justification for the truth of knowledge as deductive speculation. As a result, a positivist theory of sociocognition arose, which contains the following main provisions:

the objective world is given to man in the form of sensory phenomena (sensations, perceptions, ideas), man himself cannot penetrate into the essence of the objective world, but can only empirically describe these phenomena;
society will be the result of the interaction of (a) the conscious activity of people and (b) objective natural factors;
social phenomena (facts) are qualitatively the same as natural phenomena, due to which the methods of natural scientific knowledge are also applicable in sociological research;
society is like an animal organism, it has certain organ systems that interact with each other;
the development of society will be the result of an increase in the number of people, differentiation and integration of labor, the complication of previous organ systems and the emergence of new ones;
science is a true benefit for people, and the development of humanity directly depends on the development of science, incl. sociological;
social revolutions are a disaster for people and will be the result of mismanagement of people, arising from ignorance of the laws of sociology;
for normal evolutionary development, leaders and leading classes must know sociology and be guided by it when making political decisions;
the task of sociology is to develop empirically based universal laws of social behavior in order to orient it towards the public good, a reasonable social system;
humanity consists of different countries (and peoples), which move along the same path, go through the same stages, and therefore are subject to the same laws.

Table 1. Military society compared to industrial society

Traits	Military Society	Industrial society
Dominant activity	Defense and conquest of territories	Peaceful production and exchange of goods and services
Integrative (unifying) principle	Tension, tough sanctions	Free cooperation, agreements
Relations between individuals and states	Dominance of the state, restriction of food	The state serves the needs of individuals
Relations between states and other organizations	State dominance	Dominance of private organizations
It is worth saying - political structure	Centralization, autocracy	Decentralization, democracy
Stratification	Status prescription, low mobility, closed society	Achieved status, high mobility, open society
Economic activity	Autarky, protectionism, self-sufficiency	Economic interdependence, free trade
Dominant values	Courage, discipline, submission, loyalty, patriotism	Initiative, resourcefulness, independence, fruitfulness

Criticizing positivist knowledge, Hayek writes: “In connection with the idea of the knowability of laws<...>it is assumed that the human mind is capable, so to speak, of looking at itself from above and at the same time not only understanding the mechanism of its action from the inside, but also observing its actions from the outside. The curiosity of such a statement, especially in Comte's formulation, is essentially that if it is openly recognized that the interaction of individual minds can lead to the emergence of something, in a certain sense, superior to the achievements available to the individual mind, the individual mind itself, the more “Nevertheless, he will not only be able to grasp the whole picture of universal human development and recognize the principles by which it takes place, but will also be able to control and direct its development, thus ensuring that it proceeds more successfully than it would have been without control.”

However, most of Spencer's contemporaries were unable to appreciate his ideas. People started talking about the colossal contribution this British thinker made to the development of philosophy and sociology only in the 20th century, and today his scientific legacy is being actively rethought.

Childhood and youth

Herbert Spencer was born on April 27, 1820 in Derby, Devonshire. The future philosopher grew up in the family of a school teacher. Spencer's parents, in addition to him, gave birth to six more children, five of whom died in infancy.

Herbert was not in good health, so his father decided not to send his son to school and personally took up his upbringing and education. The boy adopted both knowledge and personal qualities from his parent: in his autobiographical notes, the philosopher claimed that he learned punctuality, independence, and strict adherence to his principles from his father.

When developing an educational program for his son, Spencer Sr. carefully approached the selection of literature. Herbert quickly became addicted to reading, and although his success in school subjects could not be called brilliant, the boy could not be denied curiosity, rich imagination and observation.

At the age of 13, his parents were going to send him to his uncle - he was ready to take upon himself the preparation of the young man to enter Cambridge. However, Spencer, skeptical of formal education, did not go to university.

In the autumn of 1837, Herbert, having accepted a position as a railway engineer, moved to London. But after 3 years he left the capital and returned home. There Spencer tried his hand at studying mathematics, but since he was not good at the exact sciences, he quickly lost interest in this idea. But the young man developed an interest in journalism. In the radical newspaper “Nonconformist” he published 12 articles on political and social topics. In 1843 they were published as a separate book.

In subsequent years, Herbert lived between London and Birmingham, trying himself in a variety of fields. He wrote plays, poems and poems, published his own magazine, worked as an engineer and architect. At the same time, the young man did not stop studying, became acquainted with the works of British and German thinkers and was preparing to publish his own book.

Philosophy and sociology

Spencer's first work, entitled Social Statics, was published in 1851. In it, the philosopher acted as the founder of the theory of justice, which was subsequently developed in his other works. The basis of the book was an argument about how balance can be maintained in the state. Herbert believed that such a balance is possible if the social structure is subject to the law of freedom and the resulting system of justice.

Aspiring sociologist Herbert Spencer

The reading public greeted “Social Statics” favorably, but the author himself decided that not everyone was able to properly appreciate the depth of his work. But Spencer’s work attracted the attention of prominent British experts, including Thomas Huxley, George Eliot, and Stuart Mill.

Communicating with them, Herbert discovered new names in modern philosophy - one of his new comrades, Mill, introduced him to the works of Auguste Comte. Having discovered that some of the Frenchman’s ideas echoed his own, the thinker felt wounded. Subsequently, Spencer repeatedly emphasized that Comte did not have the slightest influence on his views.

In 1855, the treatise “Foundations of Psychology” was published, published in two volumes. In it, Herbert described his own concept of associative psychology. This work was not easy for the author; it took a lot of mental and physical strength. In the biography he himself wrote, the thinker admitted that at the end his nerves were in a terrible state and he barely completed the essay. But the trials didn't end there. “Foundations of Psychology” did not arouse keen interest among readers, the costs of publication did not pay off, and Spencer was left without a livelihood.

Friends came to the rescue, organizing a preliminary subscription to the “System of Synthetic Philosophy” - a huge work into which Herbert invested all of himself. The work process turned out to be painful for the man - the overwork that befell him back in the days of “Foundation of Psychology” made itself felt. Nevertheless, in 1862 the first part was published, called “Fundamental Principles”. In 1864 and 1866, two volumes of “Fundamentals of Biology” were published.

In the philosopher’s homeland, both works did not gain success, but readers from Russia and America became interested in them. Spencer's fans from the New World even sent the author, dejected by the losses, a check for $7 thousand so that he could cover the costs of publication and continue publishing the planned series of books. Friends had to work hard to persuade Herbert to accept these funds. The thinker refused generous financial assistance until the last moment, but eventually gave in.

In 1870 and 1872, “Foundations of Psychology” were published. At the same time, Spencer managed to work on another essay on sociology. True, he could no longer collect the necessary material alone - with age, the philosopher’s vision deteriorated so much that he had to hire a secretary.

Together they systematized data on the social institutions of different peoples, entering information into special tables. The material seemed so valuable to Herbert that he decided to publish it as a separate book. The first part of “Descriptive Sociology” was published in 1871, the publication of the other 7 volumes continued until 1880.

The first book that brought Spencer commercial success was A Study of Sociology (1873). He wanted to use it to precede the publication of “Foundations of Sociology” (1877-1896) - according to the author’s idea, a kind of introduction was required that would allow readers to understand the new science. Herbert's last works were “Foundations of Ethics” (1879-1893), a work that put an end to the “System of Synthetic Philosophy.”

The British thinker adhered to positivism, a philosophical movement that originated in France. His followers believed that classical metaphysics was unable to provide answers to pressing questions of modern science. They were not interested in unattainable, speculative knowledge; they saw much greater value in empirical research. Spencer, along with the founder of the movement, Auguste Comte and John Mill, became a representative of the first wave of positivism.

The theory of evolution developed by Herbert became widespread. According to it, evolution is the basic law of development inherent in all phenomena. It is characterized by transitions from incoherence to coherence, from homogeneous to heterogeneous and from definite to indefinite. The final stage of evolution according to Spencer is the balance - for example, of progressive and conservative forces in society. The philosopher used this theory to analyze social, biological, psychological and other phenomena.

Herbert was also the author of the organic theory. Society seemed to him as a living organism that increases in mass, becomes more complex, lives as a single whole, at the same time, individual cells (in society their analogue is people) are constantly changing: some die, but new ones come to replace them. The philosopher compared state institutions to individual parts of the body that perform certain functions.

In addition to the monumental work “A System of Synthetic Philosophy,” Spencer published a number of books, including “The Proper Boundaries of State Power” (1843), “Man and the State” (1884), “Facts and Commentaries” (1902) and others.

Personal life

Not much is known about the philosopher’s personal life. The main reason for his loneliness lies in the fact that Herbert devoted himself entirely to work. In 1851, the thinker’s friends, having looked for a suitable wife for him, set out to send him down the aisle.

However, these plans were not destined to come true - after meeting the girl, Spencer abandoned the marriage. He justified this decision by saying that the bride was “too developed.” Later, Herbert never created his own family; all his thoughts turned to science and books.

Death

Herbert Spencer died on December 8, 1903 in Brighton. He was buried in Highgate Cemetery in London, next to the ashes of another outstanding philosopher of the 19th century -. The death of the British thinker was preceded by years of illness - at the end of his life he no longer got out of bed.

The Autobiography he wrote was published in 1904, and readers swept the books off the shelves. This work by Spencer was talked about long before its publication; publishers received numerous pre-orders. On the very first day of sales, “Autobiography” was completely sold out; even the impressive price did not bother the reading public.

Bibliography

1842 - “The Proper Boundaries of State Power”
1851 - “Social Statics”
1861 - “Mental, moral and physical education”
1862-1896 - “System of synthetic philosophy”
1879 - “Data of Ethics”
1884 - “Man and State”
1885 - “Philosophy and religion. The Nature and Reality of Religion”
1891 - “Essays: scientific, political and philosophical”
1891 - “Justice”
1902 - “Facts and Comments”

Quotes

“A chicken is just a way for one egg to produce another egg.”

“Every man is free to do what he wishes, provided he does not violate the equal freedom of every other person.”

“Progress is not an accident, but a necessity.”

“The purpose of education is to form a being capable of governing himself, and not one who could only be governed by others.”

The famous positivist philosopher Herbert Spencer was born in England, in the county of Derby on April 27, 1820. In his early youth, Spencer was a civil engineer, but already in 1845 he left this profession and devoted himself entirely to science. In addition to a number of scientific and journalistic articles, which were initially published in various periodicals, and then published separately in three volumes under the general title: “Essays”, Spencer wrote: “Social Statics”, “The Study of Sociology”, “ Education" and "System of synthetic philosophy". This last work is the main work that gave Herbert Spencer worldwide fame. Under the general title: “System of Synthetic Philosophy,” a number of volumes have been published, which, although connected by general ideas, can largely be considered as separate works. “Synthetic Philosophy” consists of: one volume of “Fundamentals”, two volumes of “Foundations of Biology”, two volumes of “Foundations of Psychology”, three volumes of “Foundations of Sociology” and two volumes of “Foundations of the Science of Morality”.

In his Fundamental Principles, Herbert Spencer sets out the most general principles of his philosophy. Based on the principle of the relativity of knowledge, he arrives at what is typical for all positivists the conclusion that "ultimate scientific ideas correspond to realities that cannot be comprehended", that "the reality behind all appearances must remain forever unknowable", and philosophy must therefore concentrate on the study of not essence things, but given to us in experience relations between them. Moving into the realm of this “knowable,” Spencer begins by defining philosophy as a completely unified knowledge. From this point of view, two forms of philosophy can be distinguished: general philosophy, in which particular truths serve to clarify universal truths, and private philosophy, in which recognized universal truths serve to interpret particular truths. "Fundamental Principles" deals with philosophy of the first kind, and all other parts of "Synthetic Philosophy" are devoted to philosophy of the second kind.

English philosopher Herbert Spencer

The main doctrine of Herbert Spencer is the doctrine of evolution, which he defines as follows: “Evolution is the integration of matter and the accompanying dispersion of motion, matter passing from a state of indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a state of definite, coherent heterogeneity, and the preserved motion undergoing parallel changes.” It is impossible not to point out the similarity of Spencer's ideas about evolution with the teaching von Baer, however, Spencer expanded Baer’s thought so much and reworked it so originally that his right to be considered a completely independent creator of the doctrine he expounds cannot be doubted. Herbert Spencer considers the main reason for evolution to be “the instability of the homogeneous.” Infinite and absolute homogeneity, according to his ideas, would be completely stable, but in the absence of such homogeneity, a redistribution of matter and force inevitably begins, in which different parts of the homogeneous are subjected to unequal action of external forces, and as a result, the homogeneous turns into heterogeneous. In the end, the basis of all evolutionary phenomena is the principle of conservation (constancy) of force. Thus, Spencer takes as the main starting point of his ideas the undoubted and generally accepted principle of the conservation of energy, and his entire doctrine of evolution is a logical conclusion from this principle. The weak side of Spencer's ideas lies in the insufficiently developed theory of knowledge, in the fact that he operates on the concepts of matter and force without sufficient criticism, and the very doctrine of the relativity of knowledge is assimilated by him in the unsatisfactory form in which it was before him. Although the doctrine of physical evolution, as a transition from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity, cannot be accepted in its entirety wrong,it is undoubtedly insufficient. The doctrine of the cause of the evolution of matter then underwent especially profound changes.

In “Principles of Biology,” Herbert Spencer develops ideas about the application of the law of evolution to the organic world, to the phenomena of life, which he defines as “the continuous adaptation of internal relations to external relations.” The main idea at the center of Spencer's biology is the doctrine of the dependence of the manifestations of life on the environment. The interactions of the organism and the environment are subject, according to Spencer, to the mechanical law of equality of action and reaction. All changes in organic matter are aimed at establishing a balance between the action of the environment and the reaction of the organism. This equilibrium is established either by direct equilibrium, when an external force directly causes certain structural changes, or by indirect equilibrium - Darwinian natural selection. Thus, in the question of the origin of species, Herbert Spencer admits both Lamarckian the principle of inheritance of functionally acquired changes, and Darwinian the principle of natural selection. The principle of transferring functionally acquired changes to offspring during the further development of biology has not been confirmed.

The Foundations of Psychology are distinguished by the greatest wealth of ideas. Here Spencer studies the evolution of the spirit. Starting from the most elementary manifestations of spiritual life, he, step by step, constantly remaining faithful to his basic method, reproduces the structure of its most complex manifestations. Then, taking the most complex manifestations of the spirit, he, by analysis, gradually resolves them into their elementary constituent parts. By means of this double device (synthesis and analysis), Herbert Spencer proves with remarkable consistency the fundamental unity and continuity of the structure of the human spirit, and the close connection between spiritual life and the outside world. According to Spencer, mental phenomena are subjective expressions of external reality. In his Psychology, Herbert Spencer takes an original position in the debate between sensualists, who claim that there is nothing in the spirit that was not previously in sensation, and apriorists, who, in one form or another, recognized that some spiritual phenomena do not depend on sensations. Spencer acknowledges the existence of innate "forms of thought" (and contemplation), but argues that these "forms" are the product of mental evolution, that they are nothing more than the recorded experience of ancestors. Being innate to us, they owe their historical origin to experience.

Herbert Spencer's "Principles of Sociology" is almost as rich in secondary ideas as "Principles of Psychology." As for the main idea, it is still the same here - the idea of evolution. In parts 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Foundations of Sociology, Spencer studies the evolution of domestic, ritual, political and ecclesiastical institutions; the first two parts examine “Data from Sociology” and “Indications from Sociology.” Of Spencer's sociological ideas, the most famous are the doctrine of the origin of primitive beliefs and doctrine of analogy between society and organism.

Two volumes of “Foundations of the Science of Morality” are devoted to the study of the evolution of morality. Spencer is a strong supporter of utilitarianism, which, however, in its revision is hedonism (a philosophical theory that places pleasure at the forefront).

The philosophy of Herbert Spencer received very different assessments among his contemporaries. Some scientists ( J. Stuart Mill, Lewis, Ribot) considered Spencer a first-class genius, one of the greatest philosophers, but others, paying tribute to his comprehensive information and the wealth of his basic ideas, still refused to recognize Spencer as a first-class mind. However, it can hardly be denied that the scheme of evolution and the ingenious attempts to reconcile the sensualists and apriorists made the teachings of Herbert Spencer a rather important fact in the history of philosophy.

Plan lectures

1. Biography, main works, theoretical origins of the ideas of G. Spencer

2. The concept of evolutionism in the sociological concept of G. Spencer

3. G. Spencer’s idea of sociology as a science

4. G. Spencer's doctrine of society

5. Ethics of G. Spencer

6. G. Spencer's idea of liberalism

1. Biography, main works, theoretical origins of G. Spencer’s ideas.

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)- English philosopher and sociologist, ideologist of social Darwinism.

The main works of G. Spencer: Social statics, “Fundamentals”, “Fundamentals of biology”, “Fundamentals of psychology”, “Fundamentals of ethics”, “Fundamentals of sociology”. “Foundations of Sociology”, “Sociology as a Subject of Study” (1873, Russian translation 1896).

Biography of G. Spencer. Born into a teacher's family on April 27, 1820 in Derby. Until the age of 13, due to poor health, he did not attend school. In 1833 he began studying at Cambridge University, but after completing a three-year preparatory course he went home and began self-education. Subsequently, he never received any scientific degree or held academic positions, which he did not regret at all.

In 1848 he became an assistant editor of the Economist magazine, and in 1850 he completed his main work, Social Statics. This work was very difficult for the author - he began to suffer from insomnia. Subsequently, health problems only multiplied and resulted in a series of nervous breakdowns. In 1853 he received an inheritance from his uncle, which made him financially independent and allowed him to become a free scientist. After leaving his journalistic post, he devoted himself entirely to the development and publication of his works.

His project was to write and publish by subscription a multi-volume Synthetic Philosophy - an encyclopedic system of all scientific knowledge. The first attempt was unsuccessful: publication of the series had to be stopped due to the philosopher’s overwork and lack of interest among readers. He found himself on the verge of poverty. He was saved by his acquaintance with an American publisher, who undertook to publish his works in the United States, where Spencer gained wide popularity earlier than in England. Gradually his name became known, the demand for his books increased, and by 1875 he completely covered his losses and began to make a profit from the publication of his works. During this period, such of his works as the two-volume Principles of Biology, three books of the Foundations of Psychology and the three-volume Foundations of Sociology were published. His numerous works soon began to enjoy enormous popularity and were published in large editions in all countries of the world (including Russia)

The central idea of all his work was the idea of evolution. By evolution he understood the transition from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity, i.e. into a social whole, where, however, this whole society cannot and should not absorb an individual. Spencer showed that evolution is an integral feature of the entire world around us and is observed not only in all areas of nature, but also in science, art, religion and philosophy.

Hence, Spencer considers an essential dimension of social progress to be the transition from a society in which the individual is entirely subordinate to the social whole, to a state in which the social organism or society “serves” its constituent individuals.

The main difference in social structures, according to Spencer, is whether the cooperation of people in achieving a common goal is voluntary or forced.

Theoretical origins of G. Spencer's ideas. Spencer shared Comte's basic view, according to which sociology, directly adjacent to biology, constitutes with it the “physics of organized bodies” and views society as a kind of organism. True, Spencer places psychology between biology and sociology, but this did not have a noticeable impact on his idea of society. Spencer disagreed with Comte's idea that the entire social mechanism rests on opinions and that ideas rule the world and bring revolutions into the world. “The world,” according to Spencer, “is governed and changed through feelings, for which ideas serve only as guides. The social organism rests, in the end, not on opinions, but almost entirely on characters.” Thus, we can note that Spencer, like Comte, stands for a psychological explanation of the “social mechanism,” although this does not fit with his analogy of society with a biological organism. The attempt to explain phenomena occurring in social life with biological analogies is largely connected with Darwin's theory. Appearing in the middle of the 19th century, it had a strong influence on sociology, giving rise to various biologizing sociological concepts, including social Darwinist ones. The essence of the latter was that their authors applied to society and brought to their logical conclusion the principles of natural selection and the struggle for existence, seeing in them a universal model of the evolutionary process.

The application of evolutionary theory has been especially valuable for studying society and understanding the origin of many social institutions. The evolutionary approach to society is important in that each phenomenon is studied in its development.

The revolution accomplished in biology by Darwin's evolutionary theory and accepted by many sociologists has significantly strengthened the historical-comparative method of studying cultural and social forms of life.