Education: Intellectual, Moral and Physical

Herbert Spencer's influence in the 19th century cannot be exaggerated, and is perhaps quite convincingly demonstrated by the fact that over a million copies of his work were sold during his own lifetime. Yet the currents of thought which predominated after his death were somewhat incompatible with his views, which consequently went out of fashion. Nevertheless it would be hard to present a coherent argument in favour of dismissing Spencer's thought completely, even to-day. His work in sociology, politics, as well as philosophy made an important contribution to the development of these disciplines. And at least one of the phrases he coined, 'survival of the fittest,' which is often wrongly attributed to Darwin (due to the latter's use of it in the later editions of 'The Origin of Species') remains very much part of our vocabulary today, both inside and outside academia. This volume is one of Spencer's lesser known works, though certainly not unimportant for our understanding of his perspectives in a number of areas, most importantly education. The edition is useful to enthusiasts of Spencer, who have not been able to purchase a new copy of this work for some time now. The four chapters of which this work consists originally appeared as four the first in the 'Westminster Review' for July, 1859; the second in the 'North British Review' for May, 1854; and the remaining two in the 'British Quarterly Review' for April, 1858, and for April 1859.