The Principles of Psychology
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text · 1 illegible passages, excluded from answers
- Extent:
- ~270,000 words · 1,279 passages
Cite this work
- APAHerbert Spencer. (n.d.). The Principles of Psychology. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/herbert-spencer/the-principles-of-psychology
- MLAHerbert Spencer. "The Principles of Psychology." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/herbert-spencer/the-principles-of-psychology.
- ChicagoHerbert Spencer. The Principles of Psychology. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/herbert-spencer/the-principles-of-psychology.
What it is about
Spencer's psychology: mind understood as the organism's adaptation to its environment, and its forms as the accumulated result of that adaptation.
Context and history
The first edition is of 1855, four years before the Origin of Species: Spencer was already thinking in evolutionary terms before Darwin published, though with a different mechanism — he has acquired characters inherited, which would turn out to be false. It is worth reading with that in mind: it is one of the cases where one sees plainly that an idea can be in the air before anyone finds the proof of it.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
THIS third edition of the I'r-hici-jilcs of Psychology differs from preceding editions, mainly by containing anew division; which, occurs in the second volume, under the title — ee Part VIII. , Congruities." By the preface to ihe first edition, it will be seen that I bad originally intended to write, under the title of "{Summary and Conclusion/7 a division having forifcs purpose <e to bring the several lines of argument to a focus:" believing that t>f the harmony thai, may be shown to subsist between the doctrines elaborated in the respective divisions, is a strong confirmation of their truth." When I began to prepare the second and great ly enlarged edition, I looked forward to fulfilling this intention, which disturbed health bad before obliged me to abandon. Eventually, however, I left the additional part unwritten— partly because tho work had already become too bulky, and partly because 1 thought that, the harmonies I proposed to point out were so conspicuous tluit all readers would perceive thorn. This last reason proved, to bo ill-grounded. Par from recognising the harmonics which I thought conspicuous, sundry cridics have enlarged on the incongruities. In a/ review published in (he Academy For April I, 187;.$, Mr. Henry Hidgwiek speaks of ** the masy inconsistency of his [niy] metaphysical results/' Similarly, a, writer in the fy we fat or for the 21st, of June, 187!», asserts thai. "Mr. Spencer's system has the incurable defect of fundamental incoherence." Prof. Oreon, also, in two articles which appeared in the CoiiJani-iiomrij Itw'irw for December, IS77, and March, 1878, dovoten much space to showing, as
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