The Life and Letters of Herbert Spencer

Abstract

IT is not long since we had Mr. Herbert Spencer's voluminous “Autobiography,” and now we have his “Life and Letters“—a labour of love executed with marked success by Dr. David Duncan, who was for a time the philosopher's secretary and collaborateur. With his characteristic deliberateness, Mr. Spencer arranged for this “Life” some twenty-eight years ago, and he confirmed the arrangement in his will. He felt that an autobiography is from the nature of the case likely to give a partial picture of the man, and this is borne out by reading the “Life.” Although Herbert Spencer was unusually gifted with the power of regarding himself almost impersonally as a phenomenon, the result of the “Autobiography” was to leave some false impressions, as, for instance, that he was “all brains and no heart.” Besides correcting the partiality of Spencer's self-portraiture, the “Life” contains many letters of historical interest, an important document entitled “The Filiation of Ideas” (1898–09), and valuable summings up, such as the chapter on Spencer's views on inorganic evolution. Moreover, it is the only authoritative record of the twenty-one years that elapsed after the completion of the “Autobiography.”

The Life and Letters of Herbert Spencer.

By Dr. David Duncan. Pp. xi + 621; with seventeen illustrations. (Lóndon: Methuen and Co., n.d.) Price 15s.