progressivism, individualism, and the public ... - Telmarc Group

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PROGRESSIVISM, INDIVIDUALISM, AND THE PUBLIC
INTELLECTUAL
Spencer, in fact, was not just a Lamarckian, he was a leading Lamarckian, taking up
cudgels against the neo-Darwinians such as biologist August Weismann, whose
watershed finding in 1889—that mice with their tails cut off do not bear short-tailed
progeny—was seen by many as a crucial-experiment refutation of Lamarckism. Spencer’s
status as a defender of Lamarckism in the 1890s was such that that progressive
Lamarckians, such as Lester Frank Ward, often found themselves in the awkward
position defending Spencer, a man whose individualism and laissez-faire economics they
loathed, and dedicated their lives to opposing."
Thus the fundamental basis of the Hofstadter argument against Spencer has no merit.
Francis begins by throwing the cudgel down early on in the biography as to his apparent
dislike of free markets and then continues to pound the cause home.
3.2.4 Spencer the Man and the Individualist
Francis begins to position Spencer as a non-individualist, by redefining what he believed
Spencer meant by his individualism 42 . The author commences what appears to be his
personal repositioning of Spencer as not the one lauded by many 21st century libertarians
but as a mainstream 21st century liberal. Although he defines "individualist" as the
"natural antonym" of the term "state" the author commences the rehabilitation of Spencer
from his point of view.
The most published work of Spencer, his small but compelling book, "The Man Versus
the State", is a well read treatise which clearly and unambiguously states the position of
the individual against the state. Unfortunately the positioning by the author at this stage
to marginalize this work of Spencer presages his attempt to reconstruct Spencer as a man
who may not even have written that book.
Chapter 3 depicts Spencer and the problems he allegedly had with women. One of his
alleged lovers was the writer George Eliot with whom he had an affair which lasted a
brief while. The chapter is less a discussion of Spencer's problems with women than it is
a presentation of conflicted Victorians in England.
Chapter 6 discuses Spencer's rather common eccentricities starting with his
hypochondria. The author states:
"Spencer combined hypochondria with radical political opinions."
It appears that this was a common British trait not unique to Spencer. For if one looks at
Lord Russell one see that he suffered from exactly the same set of problems. One may
conjecture that such a set of common characteristics were both common to the Victorian
British as well as those holding extreme views.
42 Francis p 13.
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