You are gillman or spencer

December 13, Spencer’s Social Evolution Theory I am Herbert Spencer and I want to discuss how I developed my theory of evolution that many people attribute to Charles Darwin, instead of me. Though I do not usually cite the thinkers and authors who have influenced my ideas about human biology, philosophy and society (Allan 27), I would like to take this opportunity to describe the influences on my theories on evolution and sociology. My father, W. G. Spencer, is a Darwinian, in reference to Charles Darwin’s father, English physician Erasmus Darwin. I have always respected my father’s opinions and feedback, which is why I submit my writings to him for criticism (Elliott 13). He is like Darwin who believes in evolution to explain how organisms changed throughout time. Darwin supposes that competition and sexual selection stimulate changes in species, that is, cause them to evolve (Elliott 8-9). I agree with him that the environment causes us to change too, not just biologically, but also socially (Allan 32).
Besides Darwin, Thomas Malthus influenced my idea of social evolution precisely because I disagree with his views. Malthus believes that, because the world’s resources are limited, population growth will only worsen resource limitations, and only external forces, such as disease, war, and death from hunger can resolve this problem (Moberg 109). I believe that Malthus has undermined our human capability for rationality and innovation. I believe in “ survival of the fittest” wherein more resourceful and intelligent people will survive, while those who are weak will die eventually in this world (Moberg 109). I am the first who coined the phrase “ survival of the fittest,” by the way, not Charles Darwin. In this case, my idea of social evolution will lead to constant growth toward a more perfect society than the miserable society that Malthus predicts (Moberg 109).
While thanking Malthus for making me think about the survival of the fittest, French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck also influenced me through his theory of use inheritance. I agree with Lamarck that changes in environment changes the needs of living things in the environment and that these inner changes subsequently alter their behaviors. In Philosophie Zoologique, Lamarck says that use or disuse of certain parts due to changing environment and needs results to changes in the size of the former wherein more use increases its size, less use would shrink it and complete disuse will result to its disappearance (Carroll 221). In addition, Lamarck asserts that these changes are passed on to the organisms’ offspring (Carroll 221). I confirm this view of organic change where stages of differentiation and integration push homogenous structures toward heterogeneous ones (Carroll 223).
Given these influences, I present to you my theory of social evolution that is also based on my belief regarding evolution in general. My idea of social evolution is comparable to Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection. The more that society grows, the more that it becomes multifaceted and differentiated. I believe that, as long as we allow our society to be more and more perfect through the passing on of behaviors and genes of the fittest, meaning the most resourceful and the smartest, to their offspring, we are allowing the removal of the weakest members of human society, and we will soon attain utopia where nations compete through economic competition than war and every society has the strongest and most brilliant members who have the freedom to flourish as individuals and as parts of their groups and communities and can freely contribute to socioeconomic progress (Carroll 224). This is my idea of social evolution, nevertheless, and I am not saying that this will happen for all kinds of societies because numerous factors derail the survival of the fittest, such as giving free food and public education to the poor (Hirst 12).
To summarize the ideas of people who influenced me, my father and Erasmus Darwin encouraged me to study biology and to be interested in evolutionary theory. Malthus inspired me to think of social evolution through the survival of the fittest, while Lamarck gave insights about use inheritance. From these ideas, I developed my theory of social evolution where societies would soon become more complex and differentiated, until only the strongest and most brilliant survive and where the fittest will create a better world for future generations.
Works Cited
Allan, Kenneth. Explorations in Classical Sociological Theory: Seeing the Social World. 3rd ed. California: SAGE, 2013. Print.
Carroll, Joseph. Reading Human Nature: Literary Darwinism in Theory and Practice. New York: State University of New York, 2011. Print.
Elliott, Paul. “ Erasmus Darwin, Herbert Spencer, and the Origins of the Evolutionary Worldview in British Provincial Scientific Culture, 1770–1850.” Isis 94. 1 (2003): 1-29. JSTOR. Web. 7 Dec. 2014.
Hirst, Paul Q. Social Evolution and Sociological Categories. New York: Routledge, 1976, 2009. Print.
Moberg, Mark. Engaging Anthropological Theory: A Social and Political History. New York: Routledge, 2013. Print.