Значение слова SPENCER в Литературной энциклопедии

SPENCER

1) HERBERT (1820-1903).-Philosopher, _b._ at Derby, the _s._ of a teacher, from whom, and from his uncle, mentioned below, he received most of his education. His immediate family circle was strongly Dissenting in its theological atmosphere, his _f._, originally a Methodist, having become a Quaker, while his mother remained a Wesleyan. At 13 he was sent to the care of his uncle, Thomas S., a clergyman, near Bath, but a Radical and anti-corn-law agitator. Declining a Univ. career he became a school assistant, but shortly after accepted a situation under the engineer of the London and Birmingham railway, in which he remained until the great railway crisis of 1846 threw him out of employment. Previous to this he had begun to write political articles in the _Nonconformist_; he now resolved to devote himself to journalism, and in 1848 was appointed sub-ed. of the _Economist_. Thereafter he became more and more absorbed in the consideration of the problems of sociology and the development of the doctrine of evolution as applied thereto, gradually leading up to the completion of a system of philosophy which was the work of his life. His fundamental proposition is that society, like the individual, is an organism subject to evolution, and the scope of this idea is gradually expanded so as to embrace in its sweep the whole range of cognisible phenomena. Among the books which he _pub._ in exposition of his views may be mentioned _Social Statics_ (1850), _Principles of Psychology_ (1855), _First Principles_ (1862), _Principles of Biology_ (1867), _Data of Ethics_ (1879), _Principles of Sociology_ (1877), _Political Institutions_ (1882), and _Man versus the State_ (1884). His works have been translated into most European languages-some of them into Chinese and Japanese. The most characteristic qualities of S. as a thinker are his powers of generalisation and analysis. He left an autobiography, in which he subjects his own personality to analysis with singular detachment of mind. _Life_ by David Duncan, LL.D., _Life_ by A.J. Thompson. _See_ also _Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy_, Fishe (1874), and books on S. and his philosophy by Hudson (1894), White (1897), and Macpherson (1890). 2) SPENCER, WILLIAM ROBERT (1769-1834).-Poet, _ed._ at Harrow and Oxf., belonged to the Whig set of Fox and Sheridan. He wrote graceful _vers de societe_, made translations from Buerger, and is best remembered by his well-known ballad of _Gelert_. After a life of extravagance he _d._ in poverty in Paris.

Литературная энциклопедия. 2012