Evolution and Mind

Abstract

Spencer’s general theory of evolution as set forth in First Principles is at the heart of his contribution to social thought, so that pushing it to the periphery distorts its whole morphology. One must therefore ignore Crane Brinton’s often-quoted droll yet superficial aside that a full analysis of Spencer’s system ‘would be an intolerable infliction upon the reader’ (1962: p. 188). Spencer provided a summary of his theory to accompany the publication of Collins’s Epitome of the Synthetic Philosophy in 1889, and this summary provides a useful point of entry. I have further abridged the set of points which Spencer took to encapsulate the theory.