Social Darwinism: Herbert Spencer and The Catholic Church Essay

Herbert Spencer was the most important Social Darwinist of the 19th Century. He was the first to begin thinking about evolutionist long before Darwin came out with his book on the "Origins of Species". He had many theories such as that everything evolves from one basic creature and then breaks off into more diverse species (Haberman (Hab.), 171). His theory was that social, political, and intellectual movements were caused by the development from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous. Spencer once stated, "If the advance of man towards greater heterogeneity is traceable to the production of many effects by one cause, still more clearly may the advance of society towards greater heterogeneity be so explained" (Haberman 2 (Hab2)) Spencer believed that governments should not try to change social environment, for it would hamper with processes of nature and individual liberty (Hab). He had a theory that evil would disappear if "every man may claim the fullest liberty to exercise his faculties"(Hab). Although this would onl...