Intellectual Education

Herbert Spencer's influence in the 19th-century cannot be exaggerated, and is perhaps quite convincingly demonstrated by the fact that over a million copies of his work were sold during his own lifetime. Yet, the currents of thought, which predominated after his death, were somewhat incompatible with his views, which consequently went out of fashion. Nevertheless, it would be hard to present a coherent argument in favour of dismissing Spencer's thought completely, even to-day. His work in sociology, politics, as well as philosophy made an important contribution to the development of these disciplines. And, at least one of the phrases he coined, "survival of the fittest," which is often wrongly attributed to Darwin (due to the latter's use of it in the later editions of "The Origin of Species") remains very much part of our vocabulary today, both inside and outside academia.