Abstract
WITH this volume Mr. Spencer has completed his system of “Synthetic Philosophy,” the work of thirty-six years. This fact gives a very special interest to his preface, where he tells with dignity and reserve of the disadvantages and disappointments under which his untiring purpose was carried through. Mr. Spencer's comprehensive survey of the sciences in the light of the conception of organic development has abundantly redeemed his promise to his subscribers. But “the first two volumes of the Principles of Sociology have expanded into three, and the third, which if written would now be the fourth, remains unwritten. It was to have treated of Progress.” Mr. Spencer has been too much of a pioneer, perhaps, to hope to say the last word of evolutionist science on progress. But if his pleasure in his emancipation, to which he refers as his dominant emotion on the completion of his task, be not too great, we may venture to hope for a further contribution on the subject from the master's pen.
The Principles of Sociology.
By Herbert Spencer. Vol. iii. Pp. viii + 635. (London: Williams and Norgate, 1896.)
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
B., H. The Principles of Sociology. Nature 55, 506 (1897). https://doi.org/10.1038/055506a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/055506a0