One of the earliest of modern thinkers to attempt a systematic account of all cosmic phenomena, Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903) conceived that every species is endowed with its own physiological intelligence, each unit being capable, under certain circumstances, of reproducing the whole organism. He proposed theories of evolution some years prior to Darwin's now famous Origin of Species. Spencer Considered the technical aspects of most subjects he wrote about,
In The Principles of Biology Spencer gives a mechanistic explanation of how life has progressed by the continual adaptation of inner relations to outer ones. This book covers metaphysics, biology, psychology, sociology and ethics, and was part of an projected vast 10-volume work, Synthetic Philosophy, in which all phenomena are interpreted according to the principle of evolutionary progress. Spencer's synthetic system had more popular appeal than scientific influence, but it served to bring the doctrines of evolution within the grasp of the general reading public and to establish sociology as a discipline.
Together with Charles Darwin and Thomas Huxley, Herbert Spencer was responsible for the acceptance of the theory of evolution.
