Introduction

Summary

The Proper Sphere of Government was Spencer's first attempt to determine what relationships there should be between government and the individual, while The Man versus The State was the more famous sequel. In the intervening years his publications ranged far beyond the boundaries of political theory. The Manchester Guardian judged Spencer on his death England's one contemporary philosopher of world-wide reputation and ranked him ‘among the two or three most influential writers of the last half-century’. Arnold Bennett conjures up a magnificent picture of what Spencer's unorthodox thoughts could unleash when the young Carlotta discovers The Study of Sociology in Sacred and Profane Love:

I went to bed early, and I began to read. I read all night, thirteen hours … Again and again I exclaimed: ‘But this is marvellous!’ I had not guessed that anything so honest, and so courageous, and so simple, and so convincing had ever been written.

It was imperative that a book so exhilarating, toppling conventional wisdom on every page, had to be concealed from her hidebound aunt: Carlotta tore from their binding the pages of The Old Helmet, ‘probably the silliest novel in the world’, and inserted her treasure in their place. Spencer's impact survived subsequent reflection undiminished: ‘he taught me intellectual courage; he taught me that nothing is sacred that will not bear inspection; and I adore his memory’.