System of Synthetic Philosophy - 15 volumes comprising: The Study of Sociology; Principles of Sociology (2 volumes in 4, the Third edition); Education; Principles of Psychology (2 volumes in 3, Third edition); Social Statistics (abridged with Man Versus the State); First Principles; Principles of Ethics (2 volumes); and Principles of Biology (2 volumes)

Spencer, Herbert

Published by D. Appleton and Company, 1896

About this Item

Appleton, 1896. 3/4 green leather, marbled boards. lightly sunned but bright and in exceptional condition.No former owner marks. These 15 volumes compile the American Edition of Spencer's ambitious "System of Synthetic Philosophy" first published in separate volumes from 1860-1892. The scheme of which is outlined in The "Study of Sociology" and elaborated in the final volume, "Principles of Ethics". Each volume contains both the original preface, and with updated prefaces to the set, as appropriate. In this System, his life work, "Spencer developed an all-embracing conception of evolution as the progressive development of the physical world, biological organisms, the human mind, and human culture and societies. As a polymath, he contributed to a wide range of subjects, including ethics, religion, anthropology, economics, political theory, philosophy, literature, astronomy, biology, sociology, and psychology. Spencer is best known for the expression "survival of the fittest", which he coined in Principles of Biology (1864), after reading Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species. In 1858 Spencer produced an outline of what was to become the System of Synthetic Philosophy. This immense undertaking, which has few parallels in the English language, aimed to demonstrate that the principle of evolution applied in biology, psychology, sociology (Spencer appropriated Comte's term for the new discipline) and morality. Spencer envisaged that this work of ten volumes would take twenty years to complete; in the end it took him twice as long and consumed almost all the rest of his long life.Despite Spencer's early struggles to establish himself as a writer, by the 1870s he had become the most famous philosopher of the age. The basis for Spencer's appeal to many of his generation was that he appeared to offer a ready-made system of belief which could substitute for conventional religious faith at a time when orthodox creeds were crumbling under the advances of modern science. Though Spencer made some valuable contributions to early sociology, not least in his influence on structural functionalism, his attempt to introduce Lamarckian or Darwinian ideas into the realm of sociology was unsuccessful. It was considered by many, furthermore, to be actively dangerous. Hermeneuticians of the period, such as Wilhelm Dilthey, would pioneer the distinction between the natural sciences (Naturwissenschaften) and human sciences (Geisteswissenschaften). (For better or worse) Spencer's theories of laissez-faire, survival-of-the-fittest and minimal human interference in the processes of natural law had an enduring and even increasing appeal in the social science fields of economics and political science." (wiki).

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: System of Synthetic Philosophy - 15 volumes comprising: The Study of Sociology; Principles of Sociology (2 volumes in 4, the Third edition); Education; Principles of Psychology (2 volumes in 3, Third edition); Social Statistics (abridged with Man Versus the State); First Principles; Principles of Ethics (2 volumes); and Principles of Biology (2 volumes)
• Publisher: D. Appleton and Company
• Publication Date: 1896
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First of this edition.
• Condition: Very Good