The volume on Herbert Spencer – billed as Part II in ‘Evolution’ evolving, as a sequel to the monograph on Erasmus Darwin came out late last year.
It gives an account of his early career and continuing connections with Derby, which continued for a long time with periods of sojourn a few hundred yards from where this little book was written. It gives a succinct account of his vast ‘Synthetic Philosophy’ paying particular attention to his Psychology, and his contribution to the founding of Sociology as a new discipline, but raises questions about ‘Spencerism’ as an ideology itself in need of a sociological analysis.