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

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"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: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,752,510 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	William J. Murphy (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.