Global Spencerism : the communication and appropriation of a British evolutionist / edited by Bernard Lightman.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Lightman, Bernard V., 1950- editor.

Series:

Cultural Dynamics of Science 1.

Cultural dynamics of science, 2351-9932 ; Volume 1

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Evolution.

Spencer, Herbert, 1820-1903.

Spencer, Herbert.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (323 p.)

Place of Publication:

Boston : Brill, [2016]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Today the name most closely associated with evolutionary theory is Charles Darwin. Given Darwin’s immense reputation it is easy to forget that Herbert Spencer, in his time, was just as famous as Darwin. It turns out that Spencer’s evolutionary thought was not what necessarily appealed to many of his readers, since they had their own sense of his identity and importance. By focusing on Spencer the evolutionist, scholars have tended to concentrate their attention on a rather narrow view of him that has come out of Anglo-American appropriations of his thought. Spencer was one of the first international, public intellectuals whose views on psychology, religion, sociology, ethics, education, and biology captured the imagination of readers all over the world. The chapters will cover the communication and appropriation of Spencer’s ideas in Russia, the Middle East, China, Japan, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, the United States, Italy, Scandinavia, and France. Contributors are: Li Bin, Juan Manuel Rodriguez Caso, Gowan Dawson, Heloisa Maria Bertol Domingues, Marwa Elshakry, Mark Francis, G. Clinton Godart, Michael Gordon, Paola Govoni, Rosaura Ruiz Gutiérrez, Hans Henrik Hjermitslev, Ricardo Noguera-Solano, Adriana Novoa, Greg Radick, Nathalie Richard, Ke Zunke.

Contents:

Preliminary Material

Introduction / Bernard Lightman

1 “What a Go-a-Head People They Are!”: The Hostile Appropriation of Herbert Spencer in Imperial Russia / Michael D. Gordin

2 Spencer’s Arabic Readers / Marwa Elshakry

3 Spencerism in Japan: Boom and Bust of a Theory / G. Clinton Godart

4 Spencer and Science Education in China / Ke Zunke and Li Bin

5 The Reforming Spencerians: William James, Josiah Royce and John Dewey / Mark Francis

6 Spencer’s American Disciples: Fiske, Youmans, and the Appropriation of the System / Bernard Lightman

7 The Ideology of the “Survival of the Fittest” during the Porfiriato in Mexico / Rosaura Ruiz Gutiérrez , Ricardo Noguera Solano and Juan Manuel Rodriguez Caso

8 The Rise and Fall of Spencer’s Evolutionary Ideas in Argentina, 1870–1910 / Adriana Novoa

9 Spencerism in Brazil: An Introduction / Heloisa Maria Bertol Domingues

10 The Importance of Being Quantified: Herbert Spencer in Liberal Italy, and Beyond / Paola Govoni

11 Education and Evolution: Appropriations of Herbert Spencer in Scandinavia, 1870–1920 / Hans Henrik Hjermitslev

12 A ‘Spencerian Moment’ in French Cultural History? Spencer in France (1870–1890) / Nathalie Richard

Afterword / Gowan Dawson and Gregory Radick

Selected Scholarly Works on Global Spencerism / Bernard Lightman

Index / Bernard Lightman.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

90-04-26400-0

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004264007 DOI