CHAPTER X

HERBERT SPENCER AS CHAMPION OF THE EVOLUTION-
IDEA

The Evolution-Idea—Spencer*$ Historical Position—Von
Baer*s Law—Evolution and Creation—Arguments

for the Evolution-Doctrine

SPENCER has been called ** the philosopher of the
Evolution-movement," but the appropriateness of this
description depends on what is meant by philosopher.
What is certain is that he championed the evolutionist
interpretation at a time when it was as much tabooed
as it is now fashionable; that he showed its ap-
plicability to all orders of facts—inorganic, organic,
and super-organic -, that he threw some light on
various factors in the evolution-process, and that he
attempted to sum up in a universal formula what he
believed to be the common principle of all evolu-
tionary change. In judging of what he did it must
be remembered that he was pre-Darwinian, and that
chemistry and physics, biology and psychology have
made enormous strides since he wrote his First
Principles in l86l-2.

The Evolution-Idea.—The general idea of evolution,
like many other great ideas, is essentially simple—
that the present is the child of the past and the

135 large companies to regrow an entire organism.