Herbert Spencer 1820-1903

 

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For Herbert Spencer, evolution was tantamount to a natural law for the physical, biological, and social universes. In all such worlds, there exists a lawful change from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous, from the uniform to the multi-form, from the simple to the complex. Before Darwin explained the biological origin of the species by natural selection, Spencer conceived of both an individual and a societal struggle for survival in which the self-sufficient and strong would overcome. He held that society as a whole should be conceived as a special organism evolving toward higher status of perfection (Perdue, 1986, p. 59).