Spencer, Herbert - main ideas. Spencer: biography life ideas philosophy: Herbert Spencer G Spencer years of life

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) - English philosopher and sociologist, one of the founders of positivism. A prolific and varied scientist, he was deeply familiar with contemporary scientific achievements in mathematics and natural science, and worked as a technician and engineer on the railroad. He independently achieved higher technical education and was able to rise to the level of encyclopedist scientist, leaving a significant legacy in science. He wrote such works as “Sociology as a Subject of Study,” “Fundamentals of Sociology,” etc. Based on studying the development of the organic world, Spencer, seven years earlier than Darwin, came to the idea of ​​the existence of evolution in the biological world and formed the principles of natural selection and the struggle for survival in the natural world. He devoted a lot of time to the relationship between nature and society. Based on scientific facts and data, Spencer extended the idea of ​​evolution to all phenomena and processes in nature and society without exception - cosmic, chemical, biological and social. Spencer believed that even psychology and culture are natural in origin and therefore everything natural and natural develops according to the laws of nature, and therefore evolution. Society, being a form of natural existence, is subject to the same laws of evolution. For Spencer, the analysis of organic nature was one of the methodological foundations for the study of society and its processes. These two principles: a description of the structure of society as a special organism and the idea of ​​evolution - determined the fact that Spencer is considered the founder of two directions in sociology: organicism and evolutionism. The evolutionary theory of Herbert Spencer is one of the most popular theories in the 19th century.

Spencer's sociological system is based on three main elements:

evolutionary theory,

organicism (considering society as a certain kind of organism),

the doctrine of social organization - structural mechanisms and institutions.

By analogy with a biological organism, Spencer viewed society as a complex organism, the initial element of which is the individual. True, he interpreted the relationship between the part and the whole in a special way. The individual, although he is a part of the whole (society), is nevertheless not an ordinary part of an organic whole, but one that is characterized by many features of the whole, but has relative freedom within the framework of the integral structure of the social organization. Spencer highlighted similarities between biological and social organisms:

growth, increase in volume,

complication of the structure,

differentiation of functions,

growth of interaction between structure and functions,

the possibility of temporary existence of parts when the life of the whole is disrupted.

At the same time, he saw the differences between a biological and a social organism: in the first, the parts are inextricably connected, while the second is a discrete whole, in which the parts - people - are free and scattered. In the first, the ability to feel is concentrated in one part, while in society consciousness is spread throughout the entire body. In a living organism, parts exist for the sake of the whole, but in society, the good of society exists for its members - people. According to Spencer, the social organism consists of three main systems: the regulatory system - this is the state that ensures the subordination of parts to the whole, the supporting system - which produces the means for life, and the distribution system - the connection of organs.

The analogy with a biological organism also affected the interpretation of Spencer’s idea of ​​evolution. In the theory of evolution, he identified two sides: integration and differentiation:

integration - in the unification of individuals into groups (organs by analogy with a biological organism), each of which performs its own functions. Society arises as an association of individuals in connection with an increase in numbers or the gradual merging of small possessions into large feudal ones, from which provinces, kingdoms, and empires grow.

differentiation lies in the movement from homogeneous to heterogeneous, in the complication of the structure.

Spencer viewed evolution as the unity of these two processes. Likewise, transforming the homogeneous into the heterogeneous, evolution determines the emergence of the solar system, planets, in particular the Earth, and then the emergence of man and society. Evolution goes through three phases: inorganic, organic and superorganic. Phases are the main stages of evolution; certain periods of development pass through. The inorganic phase is the emergence and development of cosmic systems, the organic phase is the emergence and development of flora and fauna, the superorganic phase is the emergence and development of man and society. The most interesting elements of Spencer's evolutionary theory are associated with the analysis of superorganic evolution. Thus, primitive society is a product of inorganic, biological and psychological factors of evolution, arising as a result of the processes of integration and differentiation. Each subsequent stage of evolution seems to “remove” the most essential features of the previous one in a modified form and retains it within itself. Spencer believed that in history there is a transition from a society in which the individual is entirely subordinate to the social whole (“military” type), to a society in which the social organism serves the individuals that compose it (“industrial” type). The main occupation of a primitive type of state is war. Therefore, despotism reigns there, the all-pervasive eye of the government, meticulous regulation of the entire life of society. People here are reduced to the level of slaves, servants of the government. The highest type of state is based on peace, freedom, equality. Here the goal of the state is the good of the individual, and the state is only a means. Non-intervention of the state in social and economic matters. life, free competition, private initiative in all spheres are, according to Spencer, the conditions and sources of social progress.

In his work “Foundations of Sociology” Spencer writes that in society there is regression as often as progress - “There may be cases of gradual decline, which can turn into extinction. There may be cases of conquest by other peoples who have not exhausted themselves by raising the weakest - peoples before whom the socialist organization will collapse like a house of cards, just as ancient Peru fell before a handful of Spaniards. But if the process of evolution, which did not stop in past centuries and raised life to its present heights, continues in the future - and this is certainly to be expected - through all the critical revolutions in social life, through the life and death of nations and the displacement of one nation by another , human nature will gradually improve.”

But on the other hand, “What applies to types of organisms must also apply to types of societies. Social evolution, step by step developing higher social forms, will certainly leave many lower ones untouched. But meanwhile, all societies taken together will thus fulfill the law of evolution through increasing heterogeneity.”

Probably, the analogy with natural transformations influenced Spencer's ideas that in society there is regression as often as progress. It also explains Spencer’s penchant for evolutionary change and his skepticism towards artificial transformations of society. Although the analogy with a natural biological organism in Spencer's theory often led to a simplification in the understanding of society, at the same time it revealed enormous and fruitful methodological potential.

Spencer formulated the basic principles of the functional approach, which were then developed by Parsons. These principles were as follows:

Society is considered as an integral structure, a single organism consisting of many parts: economic, political, military, religious, etc.

Each part can only exist within the framework of an integral system, where it performs certain functions.

The functions of parts always mean satisfying some social need.

All together the functions are aimed at maintaining the sustainability of society and its reproduction.

Spencer placed great importance on social control. Social systems remain stable because they contain elements of social control. This is watered. governance, law enforcement, religious institutions and moral standards.

Biography

The greatest scientific value is represented by his research on sociology, including his two other treatises: “Social Statics” ( Social Statics, ) and “Sociological Research” ( The Study of Sociology, ) and eight volumes containing systematized sociological data, “Descriptive Sociology” ( Descriptive Sociology, -). Spencer is the founder of the "organic school" in sociology. Society, from his point of view, is an evolving organism, similar to the living organism considered by biological science. Societies can organize and control their own processes of adaptation, and then they develop towards militaristic regimes; they can also allow free and flexible adaptation and then become industrialized states.

However, the inexorable course of evolution makes adaptation “not an accident, but a necessity.” Spencer considered the social philosophy of laissez-faire to be a consequence of the concept of the cosmic force of evolution. The underlying principle of individualism is clearly stated in the Principles of Ethics:

Every person is free to do what he wishes, as long as he does not violate the equal freedom of any other person.

Social evolution is a process of increasing "individuation". In "Autobiography" ( Autobiography, 2 vol., 1904) appears to be an ultra-individualist in character and origin, a person distinguished by extraordinary self-discipline and hard work, but almost devoid of a sense of humor and romantic aspirations. He opposed revolutions and had a sharply negative attitude towards socialist ideas. He believed that human society, like the organic world, develops gradually, evolutionarily. He was an open opponent of education for the poor, and considered the democratization of education harmful.

He proposed an elegant resolution to the chicken and the egg paradox: “The chicken is just a way for one egg to produce another egg,” thus reducing one of the objects. This is quite in line with modern evolutionary biology, popularized in particular by Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Genome.

Concept of social institutions

Society consists of 3 relatively autonomous parts (systems of “organs”):

• supportive- production of necessary products
• distributive(distributive) - division of benefits based on the division of labor (provides connection between parts of the social organism)
• regulatory(state) - organization of parts based on their subordination to the whole.

Types of societies

Military type of society- military conflicts and extermination or enslavement of the defeated by the winner; centralized control. The state interferes in industry, trade and spiritual life, imposes monotony, passive obedience, lack of initiative, and interferes with natural adaptation to the demands of the environment. Government intervention not only does not bring any benefit, but is even downright harmful.

Personal rights

List of individual rights according to Spencer:

Spencer defended “the right of every man to conduct his affairs as he pleases, whatever his occupation may be, so long as it does not interfere with the liberty of others.” Political rights are needed in order to protect personal rights. “Political rights must be so distributed that not only individuals, but also classes cannot oppress each other.” However, despite all his liberalism, Spencer was against granting political rights to women.

Criticism

Critics argue that Spencer's views served as a "scientific" cover for racial prejudice. Darwin's theory of evolution was misinterpreted by Spencer as describing intellectual and moral progress. Based on his doctrine of Social Darwinism, Spencer came to the conclusion that non-white races were inferior to Europeans on the evolutionary ladder. Spencer's views contributed to the development of such inhumane practices as the forced sterilization of criminals and the "feeble-minded." The ideology of "inferior races" was used by the Nazis to justify the murder of Slavs, Jews, Gypsies and

Plan lectures

1. Biography, main works, theoretical origins of the ideas of G. Spencer

2. The concept of evolutionism in the sociological concept of G. Spencer

3. G. Spencer’s idea of ​​sociology as a science

4. G. Spencer's doctrine of society

5. Ethics of G. Spencer

6. G. Spencer's idea of ​​liberalism

1. Biography, main works, theoretical origins of G. Spencer’s ideas.

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)- English philosopher and sociologist, ideologist of social Darwinism.

The main works of G. Spencer: Social statics, “Fundamentals”, “Fundamentals of biology”, “Fundamentals of psychology”, “Fundamentals of ethics”, “Fundamentals of sociology”. “Foundations of Sociology”, “Sociology as a Subject of Study” (1873, Russian translation 1896).

Biography of G. Spencer. Born into a teacher's family on April 27, 1820 in Derby. Until the age of 13, due to poor health, he did not attend school. In 1833 he began studying at Cambridge University, but after completing a three-year preparatory course he went home and began self-education. Subsequently, he never received any scientific degree or held academic positions, which he did not regret at all.

As a youth, Spencer was more interested in mathematics and science than in the humanities. In 1837 he began working as an engineer on the construction of the railway. His extraordinary abilities were already evident then: he invented an instrument for measuring the speed of locomotives. He soon realized that his chosen profession did not give him a strong financial position and did not satisfy his spiritual needs. In 1841 Spencer took a break from his engineering career and spent two years self-educating. In 1843 he returned to his former profession, heading an engineering bureau. Having received a patent in 1846 for the sawing and planing machine he had invented, Spencer unexpectedly ended his successful technical career and went into scientific journalism, while simultaneously working on his own works.

In 1848 he became assistant editor of the Economist magazine, and in 1850 he completed his main work, Social Statics. This work was very difficult for the author - he began to suffer from insomnia. Subsequently, health problems only multiplied and resulted in a series of nervous breakdowns. In 1853 he received an inheritance from his uncle, which made him financially independent and allowed him to become a free scientist. After leaving his journalistic post, he devoted himself entirely to the development and publication of his works.

His project was to write and publish by subscription a multi-volume Synthetic Philosophy - an encyclopedic system of all scientific knowledge. The first attempt was unsuccessful: publication of the series had to be stopped due to the philosopher’s overwork and lack of interest among readers. He found himself on the verge of poverty. He was saved by his acquaintance with an American publisher, who undertook to publish his works in the United States, where Spencer gained wide popularity earlier than in England. Gradually his name became known, the demand for his books increased, and by 1875 he completely covered his losses and began to make a profit from the publication of his works. During this period, such of his works as the two-volume Principles of Biology, three books of the Foundations of Psychology and the three-volume Foundations of Sociology were published. His numerous works soon began to enjoy enormous popularity and were published in large editions in all countries of the world (including Russia)

The central idea of ​​all his work was the idea of ​​evolution. By evolution he understood the transition from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity, i.e. into a social whole, where, however, this whole society cannot and should not absorb an individual. Spencer showed that evolution is an integral feature of the entire world around us and is observed not only in all areas of nature, but also in science, art, religion and philosophy.

Hence, Spencer considers an essential dimension of social progress to be the transition from a society in which the individual is entirely subordinate to the social whole, to a state in which the social organism or society “serves” its constituent individuals.

The main difference in social structures, according to Spencer, is whether the cooperation of people in achieving a common goal is voluntary or forced.

Theoretical origins of G. Spencer's ideas. Spencer shared Comte's basic view, according to which sociology, directly adjacent to biology, constitutes with it the “physics of organized bodies” and views society as a kind of organism. True, Spencer places psychology between biology and sociology, but this did not have a noticeable impact on his idea of ​​society. Spencer disagreed with Comte's idea that the entire social mechanism rests on opinions and that ideas rule the world and bring revolutions into the world. “The world,” according to Spencer, “is governed and changed through feelings, for which ideas serve only as guides. The social organism rests, in the end, not on opinions, but almost entirely on characters.” Thus, we can note that Spencer, like Comte, stands for a psychological explanation of the “social mechanism,” although this does not fit with his analogy of society with a biological organism. The attempt to explain phenomena occurring in social life with biological analogies is largely connected with Darwin's theory. Appearing in the middle of the 19th century, it had a strong influence on sociology, giving rise to various biologizing sociological concepts, including social Darwinist ones. The essence of the latter was that their authors applied to society and brought to their logical conclusion the principles of natural selection and the struggle for existence, seeing in them a universal model of the evolutionary process.

The application of evolutionary theory has been especially valuable for studying society and understanding the origin of many social institutions. The evolutionary approach to society is important in that each phenomenon is studied in its development.

The revolution accomplished in biology by Darwin's evolutionary theory and accepted by many sociologists has significantly strengthened the historical-comparative method of studying cultural and social forms of life.

Herbert Spencer(1820-1903) - English philosopher and sociologist; he shared Comte's ideas about social statics and social dynamics. According to his teaching, society is similar to a biological organism and can be represented as a whole, consisting of interconnected and interdependent parts. Just as the human body consists of organs - kidneys, lungs, heart, etc., society consists of various institutions such as family, religion, law. Each element is irreplaceable because it performs its own socially necessary function.

In a social organism, Spencer distinguishes an internal subsystem, which is in charge of preserving the organism and adapting to environmental conditions, and an external one, the functions of which are the regulation and control of the relationship of the organism with the external environment. There is also an intermediate subsystem responsible for communication between the first two. Spencer's society as a whole is systemic in nature and cannot be reduced to a simple sum of the actions of individuals.

According to the degree of integration, Spencer distinguishes between simple, complex, and doubly complex societies; according to levels of development, he distributes them between two poles, the lower of which is a military society, and the upper is an industrial society. Military societies are characterized by the presence of a single system of belief, and cooperation between individuals is achieved through violence and coercion; here the state dominates over individuals, the individual exists for the state. , where , dominates, are characterized by democratic principles, diversity of belief systems and voluntary cooperation of individuals. Here it is not the individual who exists for the state, but the state for individuals. Spencer thinks of social development as a movement from military societies to industrial ones, although in some cases he considers the reverse movement possible - to military societies, for example, in the context of socialist ideas. However, as societies develop, they become more diverse and industrial society exists in many varieties.

Sociology of G. Spencer

Herbert Spencer(1820-1903) - English philosopher and sociologist, one of the founders of positivism. He worked as an engineer on the railway. Became the successor of positivism (philosophical and sociological); His ideas were also influenced by D. Hume and J. S. Mill, Kantianism.

The philosophical basis of his sociology is formed, first of all, by the position that the world is divided into the knowable (the world of phenomena) and the unknowable (the “thing in itself”, the world of essences). The goal of philosophy, science, sociology is the knowledge of similarities and differences, analogies, etc. in the phenomena of things to our consciousness. The essence, unknowable by human consciousness, is the cause of all phenomena, about which philosophy, religion, and science make guesses. The basis of the world, Spencer believed, is formed by universal evolution, which represents the continuous interaction of two processes: the integration of bodily particles and their disintegration, leading to their balance and stability of things.

Spencer is the founder of organic sociology, according to which society arises as a result of the long evolution of living things and itself is an organism similar to a living one. It consists of organs, each of which performs specific functions. Each society has an inherent function of survival in the natural and social environment, which has the nature of competition - a struggle that results in the most adapted societies. The evolution of nature (inanimate and living) is an ascent from simple to complex, from low-functional to multifunctional, etc. Evolution, as an integrative process, is opposed to decomposition. The struggle between evolution and decomposition is the essence of the process movement in the world.

Social organisms are the pinnacle of natural evolution. Spencer gives examples of social evolution. Peasant farms are gradually united into large feudal systems. The latter, in turn, unite into provinces. Provinces create kingdoms, which turn into empires. All this is accompanied by the emergence of new governing bodies. As a result of the complication of social formations, the functions of their constituent parts change. For example, at the beginning of the evolutionary process, the family had reproductive, economic, educational and political functions. But gradually they moved to specialized social bodies: the state, church, school, etc.

Each social organism, according to Spencer, consists of three main organs (systems): 1) production (agriculture, fishing, craft); 2) distribution (trade, roads, transport, etc.); 3) managerial (elders, state, church, etc.). An important role in social organisms is played by the management system, which defines goals, coordinates other bodies, and mobilizes the population. It operates on the basis of fear of the living (the state) and the dead (the church). Thus, Spencer was one of the first to give a fairly clear structural and functional description of social organisms: countries, regions, settlements (cities and villages).

Spencer's Mechanism of Social Evolution

How is evolution (slow development) of social organisms carried out according to Spencer? First of all, due to population growth, but also due to the unification of people into social groups and classes. People unite in social systems either for defense and attack, resulting in the emergence of “military types of societies,” or for the production of consumer goods, resulting in the emergence of “industrial societies.” There is a constant struggle between these types of societies.

The mechanism of social evolution includes three factors:

• people are initially unequal in their characters, abilities, living conditions, resulting in differentiation of roles, functions, power, property, prestige;
• there is a tendency towards increased specialization of roles, growing social inequality (power, wealth, education);
• society is divided into economic, political, national, religious, professional, etc. classes, which causes its destabilization and weakening.

With the help of the mechanism of social evolution, humanity goes through four stages of development:

• simple and isolated human societies, in which people are engaged in approximately the same activities;
• military societies, characterized by temporary territory, division of labor, and the leading role of a centralized political organization;
• industrial societies, characterized by a permanent territory, constitution and system of laws;
• civilizations, which include nation states, federations of states, empires.

The main thing in this typology of societies is the dichotomy of military and industrial society. Below, this dichotomy according to Spencer is shown in tabular form (Table 1).

According to G. Spencer, at the first stage the development of social science was under the complete control of theology, which remained the dominant type of knowledge and faith until about 1750. Then, as a result of the secularization of society, theology was denied the status of a privileged science, and this role passed to philosophy: not God, the priest, but the philosopher, the thinker began to be considered the source (and criterion) of true knowledge. At the end of the 18th century. philosophers were replaced by scientists (natural scientists), who introduced into scientific circulation the empirical justification of the truth of knowledge, and not the authority of God or philosophy. They rejected the philosophical justification for the truth of knowledge as deductive speculation. As a result, a positivist theory of sociocognition arose, which includes the following main provisions:

• the objective world is given to man in the form of sensory phenomena (sensations, perceptions, ideas), man himself cannot penetrate into the essence of the objective world, but can only empirically describe these phenomena;
• society is the result of the interaction of (a) the conscious activity of people and (b) objective natural factors;
• social phenomena (facts) are qualitatively the same as natural phenomena, due to which the methods of natural scientific knowledge are also applicable in sociological research;
• society is like an animal organism, it has certain organ systems that interact with each other;
• the development of society is the result of an increase in the number of people, differentiation and integration of labor, the complication of previous organ systems and the emergence of new ones;
• represents a genuine benefit for people, and the development of humanity directly depends on the development of science, including sociology;
• social revolutions are a disaster for people, they are the result of mismanagement of people, arising from ignorance of the laws of sociology;
• for normal evolutionary development, leaders and leading classes must know sociology and be guided by it when making political decisions;
• the task of sociology is to develop empirically based universal laws of social behavior in order to orient it towards the public good, a reasonable social system;
• humanity consists of different countries (and peoples) that move along the same path, go through the same stages, and therefore are subject to the same laws.

Table 1. Military society compared to industrial society

Criticizing positivist knowledge, Hayek writes: “In accordance with the idea of ​​the knowability of laws<...>it is assumed that the human mind is capable, so to speak, of looking at itself from above and at the same time not only understanding the mechanism of its action from the inside, but also observing its actions from the outside. The curious thing about this statement, especially in Comte's formulation, is that while it is openly accepted that the interaction of individual minds can produce something that is in some sense superior to the achievements of the individual mind, that same individual mind nevertheless declared not only capable of grasping the whole picture of universal human development and cognizing the principles by which it occurs, but also capable of controlling and directing this development, ensuring that it proceeds more successfully than it would have been without control.”

One of the founders of evolutionism, whose ideas were very popular at the end of the 19th century, the founder of the organic school in sociology, the ideologist of liberalism. He finally approved the term “Sociology” in his scientific address. His sociological views are a continuation of the sociological beliefs of Saint-Simon and Comte; Lamarck and K. Beer, Smith and Malthus had a certain influence on the development of the idea of ​​evolution.
The name of Herbert Spencer is associated with two approaches to the consideration of social phenomena:

1. Understanding society as an organism, similar to biological ones, governed by the same laws of organization, functioning and development.
2. The doctrine of universal evolution, which extends to the inorganic, organic and supra-organic (social) world.

1. Main works

The first scientific work, Herbert Spencer's Social Statics, was published in 1850. Subsequently, he tried to create a certain “sum of sciences,” which he called the “System of Social Philosophy.” The main sections of which were developed by him in his works:

• "Basic Beginnings"
• "Fundamentals of Biology"
• "Fundamentals of Psychology"
• "Fundamentals of Sociology"
• "Fundamentals of Ethics"
• "Sociology as a subject of study"

2. Contribution to science

In comparison with Auguste Comte, Spencer, relying on a larger body of knowledge, expanded the list of sciences that he wanted to cover in his philosophical synthesis. He divided all sciences into three groups:

1. Abstract sciences (eg logic, mathematics).
2. Abstract-concrete sciences (eg mechanics, physics, chemistry).
3. Specific sciences (for example, astronomy, biology, sociology)

He defines philosophy as general knowledge, since its generalizations “embrace and unite the broad generalizations of science.”

3. Historical types of societies

Herbert Spencer classified societies in terms of stages of development. I placed them in the following order:

• simple;
• complex;
• double difficulty;
• triple difficulty.

(Classification according to the degree of structural complexity).

Simple societies:

• having a leader;
• with occasional guidance;
• with unstable leadership;
• with stable leadership.

Complex societies and societies of double complexity were also classified according to the complexity of their political organization. Similarly, different types of societies have been classified according to the evolution of the settled pattern:

• nomadic;
• semi-sedentary;
• sedentary.

Societies as a whole were presented as structures that develop from simple to complex (while passing through the necessary stages). The stages of complication and re-arrangement must take place sequentially. The more developed a society is, the more complex it is, i.e. more differentiated in structural and functional terms. Herbert Spencer emphasized that the degree of complexity does not depend on the military-industrial dichotomy. Relatively undifferentiated societies may be industrial, while modern complex societies may be military.

The classification places society on a scale of complexity of structure and functional organization from “small simple aggregate” to “large aggregate.” At the initial stage, society is characterized by the predominance of direct connections between individuals, the absence of special governing bodies, etc. In a “small simple unit” all parts are similar to each other, people cooperate to achieve the same fixed group goals for everyone, there is no control center ( an early “analog” of a single-segment organization with mechanical solidarity after Durkheim). This is the simplest system without subsystems (a group in which there are no distinct subgroups). In the process of development, a complex structure, social hierarchy is formed, the inclusion of an individual in society is mediated by belonging to smaller communities (clan, caste, etc.). In a complex society, its members enter into it indirectly, as elements of simple aggregates with their “coordinating centers”, in turn subjugated by the center of a “more extensive” aggregate. In complex societies, the number of intermediate levels and subsystems increases accordingly.

Literature

• Kolomiytsev V.F. Sociology of Herbert Spencer // Sociological Research, 2004, No. 1, p. 37 - 44.

Notes

1. Spencer G. synthetic philosophy (summarized by Howard Collins). Kyiv: Nika-Center, 1997
2. 7. Kovalevsky M. Works: B 2. T.(((Title))) T. T. 1: Sociology.