Spencer's Principles of Psychology was first published in 1855. He was "Lamarckian" then (to misuse the term as it is so often misused, to denote the Laws of Use and Disuse). But more importantly, he was one of the "cosmic" evolutionists, like the author of _Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation_ (who turned out to be Robert Chambers), as well as Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck himself, a half century earlier. The basic idea was that the cosmis itself had a general progressive force that drove the evolution not only life forms for of the planets, stars, and, ultimately, morality.
Chris Green York U Toronto ============== Louis Schmier wrote: > > > > > Chris, good morning. Spencer wrote his *_Principles of Biology _*in > 1867, (Darwin's *_Origin of Specie_* was published in 1859) in which > he first coined the phrase "survival of the fittest," AFTER reading > Darwin, although he relied heavily on Lamarck, and became known as the > "father of Social Darwinism." These two, Darwin and Spencer, were > later misrepresented in the U.S. to legitimize free enterprise and > free competition, might makes right, and survival of the fittest by > the "robber barons," perverting a combination of American > individualism, Smith, and Spencer (ignored Smith's *_The Theory of > Moral Sentiments_*). Then, the late 19^th century nationalists > extended a combination of Darwin, Spencer, Smith, and the Comte de > Gobineau's _Essay on the Inequality of Human Races_ to the survival of > the individual nation, turning "nation" into a biological racial term. > > Make it a good day. > > --Louis-- > > > Louis Schmier > http://www.therandomthoughts.com > Department of History > http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org > Valdosta State University > Valdosta, Georgia 31698 /\ /\ /\ /\ > (229-333-5947) /^\\/ \/ \ /\/\__/\ \/\ > / \/ \_ > \/ / \/ /\/ \ /\ > //\/\/ /\ > \__/__/_/\_\ \_/__\ > /\"If you want to > climb mountains,\ /\ > _ / \ don't practice > on mole hills" - > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > *From:* Christopher D. Green [mailto:chri...@yorku.ca] > *Sent:* Sunday, April 04, 2010 10:14 PM > *To:* Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > *Subject:* Re: [tips] What A Day: Mystery, Redemption, Astrology, > Astronomy, History, and Tragedy > > > > > > > Louis Schmier wrote: > > The Nazi T-4 plan was an application by "men of science," however > perverted, of Herbert Spencer's social Darwinism, which, in turn, > twisted Darwin's Theory of Evolution. > > > Just for the record, Spencer was a published evolutionist BEFORE > Darwin was. After Darwin published, he adopted natural selection as > one evolutionary mechanism, among others. > > Chris > > -- > > Christopher D. Green > Department of Psychology > York University > Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 > Canada > > > > 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 > chri...@yorku.ca <mailto:chri...@yorku.ca> > http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ > > ========================== > > > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=1769 or send a blank email to leave-1769-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
