PHILOSOPHER

Herbert Spencer

1820 - 1903

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Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English polymath active as a philosopher, psychologist, biologist, sociologist, and anthropologist. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest", which he coined in Principles of Biology (1864) after reading Charles Darwin's 1859 book 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. Spencer developed an all-embracing conception of evolution as the progressive development of the physical world, biological organisms, the human mind, and human culture and societies. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Herbert Spencer is the 83rd most popular philosopher (down from 60th in 2019), the 115th most popular biography from United Kingdom (down from 59th in 2019) and the 6th most popular British Philosopher.

Herbert Spencer is most famous for his theory of evolution.

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Among PHILOSOPHERS

Among philosophers, Herbert Spencer ranks 83 out of 1,267. Before him are Nicholas of Cusa, Rudolf Steiner, Gregory of Nazianzus, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, Karl Jaspers, and Roland Barthes. After him are Ludwig Feuerbach, Theophrastus, Porphyry, Athanasius of Alexandria, Rudolf Christoph Eucken, and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1820, Herbert Spencer ranks 4. Before him are Friedrich Engels, Florence Nightingale, and Victor Emmanuel II of Italy. After him are Nadar, William John Macquorn Rankine, Anne Brontë, Harriet Tubman, Henri, Count of Chambord, Edmond Becquerel, Henri Vieuxtemps, and Multatuli. Among people deceased in 1903, Herbert Spencer ranks 4. Before him are Pope Leo XIII, Paul Gauguin, and Theodor Mommsen. After him are Camille Pissarro, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Alois Hitler, Sir George Stokes, 1st Baronet, Josiah Willard Gibbs, Alexander I of Serbia, and Hugo Wolf.

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In United Kingdom

Among people born in United Kingdom, Herbert Spencer ranks 115 out of 8,785. Before him are Edgar the Peaceful (943), David Ricardo (1772), Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443), William Gilbert (1544), Thomas Robert Malthus (1766), and John Stuart Mill (1806). After him are David Bowie (1947), Edgar Adrian (1889), Nevill Francis Mott (1905), Lewis Carroll (1832), Lemmy (1945), and Jeff Beck (1944).

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Among PHILOSOPHERS In United Kingdom

Among philosophers born in United Kingdom, Herbert Spencer ranks 6. Before him are Francis Bacon (1561), John Locke (1632), Thomas Hobbes (1588), David Hume (1711), and Thomas More (1478). After him are Roger Bacon (1220), Jeremy Bentham (1748), William of Ockham (1285), Joseph Priestley (1733), John Wycliffe (1324), and Duns Scotus (1265).

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