Will Durant – The Philosophy of Spencer (Audio)

Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English philosopher, psychologist, biologist, anthropologist, and sociologist famous for his hypothesis of social Darwinism. Spencer originated the expression “survival of the fittest”, which he coined in Principles of Biology (1864) after reading Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. The term strongly suggests natural selection, yet Spencer saw evolution as extending into realms of sociology and ethics, so he also supported Lamarckism.