Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencerwas an English philosopher, biologist, anthropologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth27 April 1820
science thinking study
So far from science being irreligious, as many think, it is the neglect of science that is irreligious-it is the refusal to study the surrounding creation that is irreligious.
alike almost beliefs centuries everywhere futility held insisted needs past perceive
Or it needs only to look back over past centuries and the iniquities alike of populace, nobles, kings, and popes to perceive an almost incomprehensible futility of the beliefs everywhere held and perpetually insisted upon
gentlemen lady nose
of the lady and through the nose of the gentleman.
darwin express mechanical races sought struggle survival
The survival of the fittest, which I have here sought to express in mechanical terms, is that which Mr. Darwin has called "natural selection, or the preservation of favored races in the struggle for life.
free perfectly till
No one can be perfectly free till all are free.
benefit english-philosopher exists members society
Society exists for the benefit of its members, not the members for the benefit of society.
bear constant english-philosopher lower men
The behavior of men to the lower animals, and their behavior to each other, bear a constant relationship.
against bar cannot contempt fail ignorance man principle prior proof
There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to investigation
contempt ignorance man principle prior
There is one principle that can keep a man in everlasting ignorance. That is contempt prior to investigation.
party support doe
The chief arguments that are urged against an established religion, may be used with equal force against an established charity. The dissenter submits, that no party has a right to compel him to contribute to the support of doctrines, which do not meet his approbation. The rate-payer may as reasonably argue, that no one is justified in forcing him to subscribe towards the maintenance of persons, whom he does not consider deserving of relief.
science genius married
Only when Genius is married to Science can the highest results be produced.
dream ideas afterlife
There is no origin for the idea of an afterlife, save the conclusion which the savage draws from the notion suggested by dreams.
emotional intellectual atheism
The "Creed of Christendom" is alien to my nature, both emotional and intellectual.
ideas atheism spirit
The idea of disembodied spirits is wholly unsupported by evidence, and I cannot accept it.