Social Statics: The Conditions Essential to Human Happiness Specified, and The First of Them Developed [Hardcover]

Herbert Spencer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1995

"Social Statics is decidedly and unashamedly a liberal document -- a classical liberal document. As such, it concerns the quality and equality of liberty. When first written in 1850, Herbert Spencer was a young rising star in the classical liberal tradition that included John Locke, Adam Smith, Tom Paine and Mary Wollstonecraft, and would reach its flowering with John Stuart Mill and Henry George. This tradition, in decline throughout the twentieth century, was kept alive by a coterie of Georgists and rejuvenated by latter-day libertarians. "Like the discrediting of social idealism as 'utopian', liberal philosophers who base their analysis on natural law are dismissed as 'old fashioned' and 'nineteenth century.' Let us look beyond such derisions and consider George's reminder to University of California students in 1877: 'Macaulet has well said, if any large pecuniary interest were concerned in denying the attraction of gravitation, that most obvious of physical facts would not lack disputers.' "The book you are about to explore deals not with gravity but with those other natural laws that have been disputed for millenia -- because their acceptance within any society would dethrone the mighty, exalt the lowly, and "proclaim liberty throughout all the land." -- From the Foreward by Mark Sullivan

Product Details

• Hardcover: 430 pages
• Publisher: Robert Schalkenbach Foundation (December 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0911312331
• ISBN-13: 978-0911312331
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,570,072 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Near-Brilliant Performance, July 30, 1999

By 

eunomius (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Social Statics: The Conditions Essential to Human Happiness Specified, and The First of Them Developed (Hardcover)

If it were not for one mistaken aplication of his maxim, I would have to say that this is one of the most astounding, consistent exposition of libertarian theory in history. However, Spencer is not wholly consistent, and his main inconsistency is so important, that it cannot be safely overlooked. The lapse that I speak of is his absurd and anti-libertarian position on the private ownership of land. He believes that land cannot be rightfully held in private hands, but rather that "society" owns the land. This indeed is an extremely specious piece of logic for a man who upholds the rights of the individual over the "state," the "majority," and "society." Not only that, it mars his entire concept of a free society. Otherwise, this work represents a landmark in libertarian individualist thought. His theory of "equal freedom" is almost identical in spirit to the non-aggression maxims utilized by thinkers such as Ayn Rand and Murray Rothbard. His application of of this basic axiom is also impressive. He thoroughly any function of the state beyond the absolute minimum. Even further, he even acknowledges the "Right To Ignore The State." Nevertheless, his views on the private ownership of land are so out of line that I cannot honestly give this book the degree of praise that it could have very easily earned.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A horrible edition, badly printed, June 18, 2010

By 

Puck Mendelssohn (Seattle WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Social Statics: The Conditions Essential to Human Happiness Specified and the First of Them Developed (Classic Reprint) (Paperback)

I was very disappointed in the quality of this reprint. It looks like a very poor scan of the original, with blotchy, hard-to-read type (poor resolution, perhaps, or somebody turned up the contrast on the scan too high in an effort to get rid of stains or some such thing), and it's been over-enlarged to make the page margins too small. It is painful to read, which would not be so awful if it were a short work but is downright prohibitive in a book of this length. I will go and seek out a better printing; this was a waste of money.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING BOOK - Horrible scan of original version, September 5, 2010

By 

Michael A. Treanor (Santa Cruz, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Social Statics: The Conditions Essential to Human Happiness Specified and the First of Them Developed (Classic Reprint) (Paperback)

Excellent book, horrible scan. So horrible I had to return it. And it pained me to do so because it rules so much.