The Man versus The State (Postscript) by Herbert Spencer
Audio presentation of
Herbert Spencer's classic 1884 book '
The Man versus
The State.'
Read by
Jock Coats.
Herbert Spencer lived long enough to witness both the hey-day of classical liberal reform in the mid-nineteenth century—the repeal of the
Corn Laws in 1846 which ushered in a period of virtual free trade in
Britain—and the gradual decline of classical liberalism towards the end of the nineteenth century. It is the latter which helps explain the grumpiness expressed in his later writings such as the collection of essays entitled
Facts and Comments (1902).
Spencer was born in
Derby, England in 1820 to a strict, non-conformist family, and died in 1903. As a young man, Spencer worked for the leading free trade journal of the day,
The Economist, from 1848-1853 during which time his first significant book appeared—
Social Statics (1850). Here he worked with
James Wilson, one of the most consistent advocates of laissez-faire in Britain,
Nassau Senior, one of the leading members of the classical school of political economy, and
Thomas Hodgskin, a radical individualist author.
Much of the rest of his life was spent working on an all-encompassing theory of human development based upon the ideas of individualism, utilitarian moral theory, social and biological evolution, limited government, and laissez-faire economics. In his later writings, most notably The Principles of Sociology (1876-1896), he drew a sharp distinction between the peaceful productivity of free market societies ("the industrial type of society") and the social conflict, political privilege, and proclivity to war and empire inherent in societies with "over-legislation" ("the militant type of society"). In
The Man Versus The State (1884) Spencer argued that the politics of vested interests and the increasing demand for economic regulation would lead to a new form of "slavery" and a "rebarbarization" of society.
The rise of pro-interventionist "
New Liberalism" in the
1880s and
1890s and the outbreak of the
Boer War in 1899 confirmed his worst fears. (
Source:
Liberty Fund, Inc.)
Read 'The Man versus The State' online:
http://www.econlib.org/library/LFBooks/Spencer/spnMvS
.html
Playlist link for complete audio book: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3A4FABEFB6295CAD
Links to more online books and essays by Herbert Spencer:
The Right to Ignore the
State
http://mises.org/daily/2624
The
Reality of Political
Momentum
http://mises.org/daily/4772
Education: Intellectual,
Moral, and
Physical
http://mises.org/resources/4968
From
Freedom to
Bondage
http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile;=show
.php%3Ftitle=
313
The Principles of Ethics,
Volume 1
http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile;=show.php%3Ftitle=
333
The Principles of Ethics,
Volume 2
http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile;=show.php%3Ftitle=334
Political Institutions, being Part V of the Principles of Sociology
http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile;=show.php%3Ftitle=1336
Justice: Being Part IV of the Principles of Ethics
http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile;=show.php%3Ftitle=1100
Essays: Scientific, Political and Speculative,
Vol. 1
http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile;=show.php%3Ftitle=335
Essays: Scientific, Political and Speculative,
Vol. 2
http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile;=show.php%3Ftitle=
336
Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative, Vol. 3
http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile;=show.php%3Ftitle=337
Essays on Education and
Kindred Subjects
http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile;=show.php%3Ftitle=
2249
The
Study of Sociology
http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile;=show.php%3Ftitle=1335
Social Statics
http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile;=show.php%3Ftitle=273
The Principles of Psychology
http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile;=show.php%3Ftitle=1394
The
Data of Ethics
http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile;=show.php%3Ftitle=331
First Principles
http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile;=show.php%3Ftitle=1390
Links to essays about Herbert Spencer and his works:
Herbert Spencer:
Libertarian Prophet by
Roderick T. Long
http://praxeology.net/herbertspencerlibertarianprophet
.pdf
Herbert Spencer: The
Defamation Continues by Roderick T. Long
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig3/long3.html
Herbert Spencer:
Social Darwinist or Libertarian Prophet? by
Peter Richards
http://mises.org/daily/4779
From Spencer's 1884 to Orwell's
1984 by
Henry Hazlitt
http://mises.org/daily/2680
The Development of Herbert Spencer's
Concept of
Evolution by
Robert M. Young
http://www.human-nature.com/rmyoung/papers/spencer.html