1820-1903. British philosopher. He wrote
Social Statics 1851, expounding his
laissez-faire views on social and political
problems, Principles of Psychology 1855, and
Education 1861. In 1862 he began his
ten-volume System of Synthetic Philosophy, in
which he extended Charles Darwin's theory of
evolution to the entire field of human
knowledge. The chief of the ten volumes are
First Principles 1862 and Principles of
biology, psychology, sociology, and ethics.
Other works are The Study of Sociology, Man
v. the State, Essays, and an autobiography.