Herbert Spencer edited by Greta Jones and Robert Peel, The Galton Institute, £5, ISBN 0950406686 Reviewed by Roy Herbert
ONE of the four essays in this book says that Spencer has not lasted well. It is certainly true that Bertrand Russell’s monumental The History of Western Philosophy does not mention him. Yet he was a celebrated thinker of the Victorian age and friendly with the likes of T. H. Huxley. He developed a theory of evolution before Darwin and Wallace – although Lamarckian – and his greatest work, The Synthetic Philosophy, drew together the principles of many scientific disciplines. He…
