What is Herbert Spencer?
{{Infobox philosopher | region = [[Western philosophy]] | era = [[19th-century philosophy]] | image =Herbert Spencer.jpg | caption = Spencer at the age of 73 | signature = HS_steel_portrait_sig.jpg | name = Herbert Spencer | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1820|4|27}} | birth_place = [[Derby]], Derbyshire, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1903|12|8|1820|4|27}} | death_place = [[Brighton]], Sussex, England | nationality = [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]] | school_tradition = [[Evolutionism]], [[positivism]], [[classical liberalism]] | main_interests = [[Evolution]], [[positivism]], ''[[laissez-faire]]'', [[utilitarianism]] | influences = [[Democritus]], [[Aristotle]], [[Charles Darwin]], [[Auguste Comte]], [[John Stuart Mill]], [[George Henry Lewes]], [[Jean-Baptiste Lamarck]], [[Thomas Henry Huxley]] | influenced = [[Charles Darwin]], [[Dhondo Keshav Karve]], [[Henry Sidgwick]], [[William Graham Sumner]], [[Murray Rothbard]], [[Émile Durkheim]], [[Henri Bergson]], [[Charles Sanders Peirce]], [[Auberon Herbert]], [[Yan Fu]], [[Jack London]] | notable_ideas = [[Social Darwinism]]<br>[[Survival of the fittest]] }} '''Herbert Spencer''' (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an [[England|English]] [[philosopher]], and a prominent [[Classical liberalism|liberal]] [[Politics|political]] and social theorist of the [[Victorian era]]. ==Works== Spencer developed an all-embracing conception of [[evolution]]. He saw evolution as the progressive development of the physical world, biological organisms, the human mind, and human culture and societies. Spencer never married; he remained a [[bachelor]]. He contributed to a wide range of subjects, including [[ethics]], [[religion]], [[politics]], [[philosophy]], [[biology]], [[sociology]], and [[psychology]]. Like [[Charles Darwin]] and [[Alfred Russel Wallace]], he read [[Malthus]]' ''Essay on the principle of population'', and was deeply impressed by its argument.<ref name=Ten>Stevenson, Leslie and Haberman, David L. 2009. ''Ten theo