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What is the name of the theory formulated by Herbert Spencer. Biography of Herbert Spencer

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) - English philosopher and sociologist, one of the founders of positivism. A prolific and diverse scientist, he was deeply familiar with contemporary scientific achievements in mathematics and natural science, and worked as a technician and engineer on the railway. He independently achieved a higher technical education, was able to rise to the level of a scientist-encyclopedist, leaving a significant legacy in science. He wrote such works as “Sociology as a Subject of Study”, “Fundamentals of Sociology”, etc. Based on the study of the development of the organic world, Spencer, seven years earlier than Darwin, came to the idea of the existence of evolution in the biological world and formed the principles of natural selection and the struggle for survival in the natural world. He devoted much time to the relationship between nature and society. Based on scientific facts and data, Spencer extended the idea of evolution to all, without exception, phenomena and processes in nature and society - cosmic, chemical, biological and social. Spencer believed that even psychology and culture are natural in origin, and therefore everything natural and natural develops according to the laws of nature, and therefore evolution. Society, being a form of natural being, is subject to the same laws of evolution. The analysis of organic nature for Spencer was one of the methodological foundations of the study of society and its processes. These two principles: the description of the structure of society as a special organism and the idea of evolution determined the fact that Spencer is considered the founder of two trends in sociology: organicism and evolutionism. The evolutionary theory of Herbert Spencer is one of the most popular theories in the 19th century.

Spencer's sociological system is based on three main elements:

evolutionary theory,

organicism, (consideration of society as a certain kind of organism),

the doctrine of social organization - structural mechanisms and institutions.

By analogy with a biological organism, Spencer considered society as a complex organism, the initial element of which is the individual. True, he interpreted the ratio of the part and the whole in a special way. The individual, although he acts as a part of the whole (society), is nevertheless not an ordinary part of the organic whole, but one that is characterized by many features of the whole, but has relative freedom within the framework of the integral structure of social organization. Spencer identified similarities between biological and social organisms:

growth, increase in volume,

complication of the structure,

function differentiation,

growth of interaction between structure and functions,

the possibility of the temporary existence of parts in the disorder of the life of the whole.

At the same time, he saw the differences between the biological and social organism: in the first, the parts are inseparably connected, while the second is a discrete whole, in which the parts - people - are free and scattered. In the first, the ability to feel is concentrated in one part, while in society consciousness is spread throughout the body. In a living organism, parts exist for the sake of the whole, but in society, the good of society exists for its members - people. According to Spencer, the social organism consists of three main systems: the regulatory system is the state ensuring the subordination of parts to the whole, the supporting system - producing means of life, and the distribution system - the connection of organs.

The analogy with a biological organism also affected the interpretation of Spencer's idea of evolution. In the theory of evolution, he singled out two sides: integration and differentiation:

integration - in the association of individuals into groups (organs by analogy with a biological organism), each of which performs its own functions. Society arises as an association of individuals in connection with the growth in numbers or the gradual merger of small possessions into large feudal ones, from which provinces, kingdoms, empires grow.

differentiation consists in the movement from homogeneous to heterogeneous, in the complication of the structure. Primitive society is simple and homogeneous. But later there are new social functions, there is a division of labor, there is a further heterogeneity of structure and functions, which leads to the emergence of another more complex type of society.

Spencer viewed evolution as the unity of these two processes. In the same way, transforming the homogeneous into the inhomogeneous, evolution causes the emergence of the solar system, planets, in particular the Earth, and then the emergence of man and society. Evolution goes through three phases: inorganic, organic and superorganic. Phases are the main stages of evolution, there are certain periods of development. The inorganic phase is the emergence and development of space systems, the organic phase is the emergence and development of flora and fauna, the superorganic phase is the emergence and development of man and society. The most interesting elements of Spencer's evolutionary theory are related to the analysis of superorganic evolution. So primitive society - a product of inorganic, biological and psychological factors of evolution, arises as a result of the processes of integration and differentiation. Each subsequent stage of evolution seems to "remove" the most essential features of the previous one in an altered form, retains in itself. Spencer believed that in history there is a transition from a society in which the individual is entirely subordinate to the social whole ("military" type), to a society in which the social organism serves its constituent individuals ("industrial" type). The main occupation of the primitive type of state is war. Therefore, despotism reigns there, the all-penetrating eye of the government, meticulous regulation of the entire life of society. People here are reduced to the level of slaves, servants of the government. The highest type of state is based on peace, freedom, equality. Here the goal of the state is the welfare of the individual, and the state is only a means. Non-intervention of the state in the social-economy. life, free competition, private initiative in all spheres are, according to Spencer, the conditions and sources of social progress.

In his work The Foundations of Sociology, Spencer writes that in society there is regression as often as progress - “There are cases of gradual decline, which can turn into extinction. There may be cases of conquest by other peoples who have not exhausted themselves by breeding the weakest - peoples before whom the socialist organization will fall apart like a house of cards, as ancient Peru fell before a handful of Spaniards. But if the process of evolution, which has not ceased in past ages and which has raised life to its present height, continues in the future, as this must be expected, through all the critical upheavals in public life, through the life and death of nations and the displacement of one nation by another, human nature will gradually improve.

But on the other hand, “What applies to the types of organisms must also apply to the types of societies. Social evolution, step by step, working out the highest social forms, will certainly leave many lower ones untouched. But meanwhile, all societies, taken together, will thus fulfill the law of evolution by increasing heterogeneity.

Perhaps the analogy with natural transformations influenced Spencer's ideas that in society there is regression as often as progress. It also explains Spencer's propensity for evolutionary change and his skepticism towards the artificial transformation of society. Although the analogy with the natural biological organism in Spencer's theory often led to a simplification in the understanding of society, at the same time it revealed a huge and fruitful methodological potential.

Spencer formulated the basic principles of the functional approach, which Parsons then developed. These principles were as follows:

Society is viewed as an integral structure, a single organism, consisting of many parts: economic, political, military, religious, etc.

Each part can exist only within the framework of an integral system, where it performs certain functions.

The functions of the parts always mean the satisfaction of some social need. Together, the functions are aimed at maintaining the stability of society and its reproduction.

Since each of the parts performs only its inherent function, in the event of a violation of the activities of parts that perform certain functions, the more these functions differ, the more difficult it is for other parts to compensate for the disturbed functions.

Spencer attached great importance social control. Social systems remain stable because they contain elements of social control. This is polit. administration, law enforcement, religious institutions and moral standards.

SPENCER, HERBERT(Spencer, Herbert) (1820-1903) - English philosopher and sociologist, ideologist of social Darwinism.

Born in the family of a teacher April 27, 1820 in Derby. Until the age of 13, due to poor health, he did not attend school. In 1833 he began to study at Cambridge University, but after completing a three-year preparatory course went home and educated himself. In the future, he never received any scientific degree and did not hold academic posts, which he did not regret at all.

As a youth, Spencer was more interested in mathematics and science than in the humanities. From 1837 he began working as an engineer on the construction of the railway. His outstanding abilities showed up even then: he invented a tool for measuring the speeds of locomotives. He soon realized that the profession he had chosen did not give him a solid financial position and did not satisfy his spiritual needs. In 1841 Spencer took a break from his engineering career and spent two years educating himself. In 1843 he again returned to his former profession, heading the engineering bureau. Having received in 1846 a patent for the sawing and planing machine he invented, Spencer unexpectedly cut short his successful technical career and went into scientific journalism, while working on his own works.

In 1848 he became assistant editor of The Economist, and in 1850 completed his main work social static. This work was given to the author very hard - he began to suffer from insomnia. In the future, health problems only multiplied and resulted in a series of nervous breakdowns. In 1853 he received an inheritance from his uncle, which made him financially independent and allowed him to become a free scientist. After leaving his journalistic post, he devoted himself entirely to the development and publication of his works.

His project was to write and publish by subscription a multi-volume synthetic philosophy- an encyclopedic system of all scientific knowledge. The first experience was unsuccessful: the publication of the series had to be stopped due to the overwork of the philosopher and the lack of interest among readers. He was on the verge of poverty. He was saved by an acquaintance with an American publisher who undertook to publish his works in the United States, where Spencer gained wide popularity earlier than in England. Gradually, his name became known, the demand for his books increased, and by 1875 he fully covered the losses and began to profit from the publication of his works. During this period, such of his works as two-volume principles of biology (The Principles of Biology, 2 vol., 1864–1867), three books Foundations of psychology (The Principles of Psychology 1855, 1870–1872) and three-volume Foundations of sociology (The Principles of Sociology, 3 vol., 1876-1896). His numerous works soon became very popular and published in large numbers in all countries of the world (including Russia)

The central idea of all his work was the idea of evolution. By evolution, he understood the transition from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity. Spencer showed that evolution is an integral feature of the entire world around us and is observed not only in all areas of nature, but also in science, art, religion and philosophy.

Spencer identified three types of evolution: inorganic, organic and supraorganic. Superorganic evolution is the subject of sociology, which deals both with the description of the process of development of society and the formulation of the basic laws by which this evolution proceeds.

He compared the structure of society with a biological organism: individual parts are analogous to individual parts of the body, each of which performs its own function. He singled out three systems of organs (social institutions) - supporting (production), distributive (communication) and regulatory (management). Any society must adapt to new conditions in order to survive. environment This is how natural selection works. In the course of such adaptation, an ever stronger specialization of individual parts of society occurs. As a result, like an organism, society evolves from simpler forms to more complex ones.

Using for Research social development concepts of biological evolution (this was called social Darwinism), Spencer largely contributed to the popularization of the ideas of "natural selection" in society and the "struggle for existence", which became the basis for "scientific" racism.

Another important idea of his was the allocation of two historical types of society - military and industrial. In doing so, he continued the tradition of formational analysis of social evolution established by Henri Saint-Simon and Karl Marx.

For societies of the military type, according to Spencer, the struggle for existence in the form of armed clashes, ending in the enslavement or destruction of the enemy, is characteristic. Cooperation in such a society is compulsory. Here, each worker is engaged in his craft and himself delivers the manufactured product to the consumer.

Gradually, society grows and there is a transition from home production to factory production. Thus, a new type of society arises - industrial. Here, too, there is a struggle for existence, but in the form of competition. This kind of struggle is associated with the abilities and intellectual development of individuals and ultimately brings benefits not only to the winners, but to society as a whole. This society is based on voluntary cooperation.

Spencer's great merit was the recognition that the process of evolution is not straightforward. He pointed out that the industrial type of society can again regress into a military one. Criticizing popular socialist ideas, he called socialism a return to the principles of a military society with the characteristic features of slavery.

Even during his lifetime, Spencer was recognized as one of the most outstanding thinkers of the 19th century. Today, his contribution to the development of science, to the promotion of evolutionary ideas, continues to be appreciated quite highly, although in the eyes of modern sociologists he loses in popularity, for example, to Emile Durkheim or Max Weber, whose works during Spencer's lifetime were much less famous.

Works by G. Spencer (selected): Collected Works, tt. 1–3, 5, 6. St. Petersburg, 1866–1869; social static. Exposition of the Laws Conditioning the Happiness of Mankind. St. Petersburg, 1872, St. Petersburg, 1906; Foundations of sociology, tt. 1–2. St. Petersburg, 1898; Autobiography, ch. 1–2. St. Petersburg, Education, 1914 ; Scientific, political and philosophical experiments, vol. 1–3; Foundations of psychology. - In the book: Spencer G., Tsigen T. Associative psychology. M., AST, 1998.

Natalia Latova

Biography

The greatest scientific value is his research in sociology, including his other two treatises: "Social Statics" ( Social Statics, ) and Sociological Research ( The Study of Sociology, ) and eight volumes containing systematized sociological data, "Descriptive Sociology" ( Descriptive Sociology,-). Spencer is the founder of the "organic school" in sociology. Society, from his point of view, is an evolving organism, similar to a living organism considered by biological science. Societies can organize and control their own processes of adaptation, and then they develop towards militaristic regimes; they can also allow free and flexible adaptation and then turn into industrialized states.

However, the inexorable course of evolution makes adaptation "not an accident, but a necessity." Spencer considered the social philosophy of laissez-faire to be a consequence of the concept of the cosmic force of evolution. The principle of individualism underlying this philosophy is clearly stated in the Principles of Ethics:

Every person is free to do what he wants, as long as he does not violate the equal freedom of any other person.

Social evolution is a process of increasing "individualization". In "Autobiography" autobiography, 2 vol., 1904) is an ultra-individualist in character and origin, a man of extraordinary self-discipline and diligence, but almost devoid of a sense of humor and romantic aspirations. He opposed revolutions and had a sharply negative attitude towards socialist ideas. He believed that human society, like the organic world, develops gradually, evolutionarily. He was an open opponent of education for the poor, considered the democratization of education harmful.

Offered an elegant solution to the chicken and egg paradox: "A chicken is just a way in which one egg produces another egg," thus reducing one of the objects. This is quite in line with modern evolutionary biology, popularized in particular by The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins.

The concept of social institutions

Society consists of 3 relatively autonomous parts (systems of "organs"):

supporting- production of necessary products
distributive(distributive) - the division of goods based on the division of labor (provides a link between the parts of the social organism)
regulatory(state) - organization of parts on the basis of their subordination to the whole.

Types of societies

Military type of society- military conflicts and extermination or enslavement of the defeated by the winner; centralized control. The state intervenes in industry, trade and spiritual life, instills monotony, passive obedience, lack of initiative, interferes with natural adaptation to the requirements of the environment. Government intervention not only does not bring any benefit, but is even downright harmful.

Personal rights

Spencer's list of individual rights:

Spencer defended "the right of every man to go about his business as he pleases, whatever his occupation may be, so long as it does not violate the freedom of others." Political rights - are needed in order to protect personal rights. “Political rights must be so distributed that not only individuals but also classes cannot oppress each other.” However, for all his liberality, Spencer was against granting political rights to women.

Criticism

Critics contend that Spencer's views provided a "scientific" front for racial prejudice. Darwin's theory of evolution was misinterpreted by Spencer as a description of intellectual and moral progress. On the basis of his doctrine of social Darwinism, Spencer came to the conclusion that non-white races are on the evolutionary ladder below the Europeans. Spencer's views contributed to the development of such inhumane practices as the forced sterilization of criminals and "feeble-minded". The ideology of "inferior races" was used by the Nazis to justify the murder of Slavs, Jews, Gypsies and

Plan lectures

1. Biography, main works, theoretical origins of G. Spencer's ideas

2. The concept of evolutionism in the sociological concept of H. Spencer

3. G. Spencer's idea of sociology as a science

4. G. Spencer's teaching about society

5. Ethics G. Spencer

6. G. Spencer's idea of liberalism

1. Biography, main works, theoretical origins of G. Spencer's ideas.

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)- English philosopher and sociologist, ideologist of social Darwinism.

The main works of G. Spencer: Social statics, "Basic Principles", "Foundations of Biology", "Foundations of Psychology", "Foundations of Ethics", "Foundations of Sociology". "Foundations of Sociology", "Sociology as a Subject of Study" (1873, Russian translation 1896).

Biography of G. Spencer. Born in the family of a teacher April 27, 1820 in Derby. Until the age of 13, due to poor health, he did not attend school. In 1833 he began to study at the University of Cambridge, but after completing a three-year preparatory course he went home and took up self-education. In the future, he never received any scientific degree and did not hold academic posts, which he did not regret at all.

In 1848 he became assistant editor of The Economist, and in 1850 he completed his main work, Social Statics. This work was given to the author very hard - he began to suffer from insomnia. In the future, health problems only multiplied and resulted in a series of nervous breakdowns. In 1853 he received an inheritance from his uncle, which made him financially independent and allowed him to become a free scientist. After leaving his journalistic post, he devoted himself entirely to the development and publication of his works.

His project was to write and publish by subscription a multi-volume Synthetic Philosophy, an encyclopedic system of all scientific knowledge. The first experience was unsuccessful: the publication of the series had to be stopped due to the overwork of the philosopher and the lack of interest among readers. He was on the verge of poverty. He was saved by an acquaintance with an American publisher who undertook to publish his works in the United States, where Spencer gained wide popularity earlier than in England. Gradually, his name became known, the demand for his books increased, and by 1875 he fully covered the losses and began to profit from the publication of his works. During this period, such of his works as the two-volume Principles of Biology, the three books of the Foundations of Psychology and the three-volume Foundations of Sociology were published. His numerous works soon became very popular and published in large numbers in all countries of the world (including Russia)

The central idea of all his work was the idea of evolution. By evolution, he understood the transition from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity, i.e. into a social whole, where, however, this whole society cannot and must not absorb the individual. Spencer showed that evolution is an integral feature of the entire world around us and is observed not only in all areas of nature, but also in science, art, religion and philosophy.

Hence, Spencer considers the transition from a society in which the individual is entirely subordinate to the social whole to a state in which the social organism or society "serves" its constituent individuals as an essential dimension of social progress.

The main difference between social structures, according to Spencer, is whether the cooperation of people in achieving a common goal is voluntary or forced.

Theoretical origins of G. Spencer's ideas. Spencer shared Comte's main view, according to which sociology, directly adjacent to biology, constitutes with it the "physics of organized bodies" and considers society as a kind of organism. True, Spencer places psychology between biology and sociology, but this did not have a noticeable effect on his idea of society. Spencer disagreed with Comte's idea that the entire social mechanism rests on opinions and that ideas govern the world, bring upheavals in the world. “The world,” according to Spencer, “is controlled and changed through the senses, for which ideas serve only as guides. The social organism rests, after all, not on opinions, but almost entirely on characters. Thus, we can note that Spencer, like Comte, stands for a psychological explanation of the "social mechanism", although this does not fit with his analogy of society with a biological organism. An attempt to explain the phenomena occurring in social life by biological analogies is largely associated with Darwin's theory. Appearing in the middle of the 19th century, it had a strong influence on sociology, giving rise to various biologizing sociological concepts, including social Darwinist ones. The essence of the latter was that their authors transferred to society and brought to their logical conclusion the principles of natural selection and the struggle for existence, seeing in them a universal model of the evolutionary process.

Especially valuable for the study of society, understanding the origin of many social institutions was the application of evolutionary theory. The evolutionary approach to society is important because each phenomenon is studied in its development.

The revolution brought about in biology by Darwin's evolutionary theory and embraced by many sociologists has greatly strengthened the historical-comparative method of studying cultural and social forms of life.

However, most of Spencer's contemporaries failed to appreciate his ideas. About what a colossal contribution this British thinker made to the development of philosophy and sociology, they started talking only in the 20th century, and today he scientific heritage actively rethought.

Childhood and youth

Herbert Spencer was born April 27, 1820 in Derby, Devonshire. The future philosopher grew up in a family school teacher. Spencer's parents, in addition to him, gave birth to six more children, five of whom died in infancy.

Herbert was not in good health, so his father decided not to send his son to school and personally took up his upbringing and education. The boy adopted both knowledge and personal qualities from his parent: in his autobiographical notes, the philosopher claimed that he learned punctuality, independence, and strict adherence to his principles from his father.

Designing for son educational program, Spencer Sr. carefully approached the selection of literature. Herbert quickly became addicted to reading, and although his progress in school subjects could not be called brilliant, the boy could not be denied curiosity, rich imagination and powers of observation.

At the age of 13, his parents were going to send him to his uncle - he was ready to take on the preparation of the young man for admission to Cambridge. However, Spencer, who was skeptical about formal education, did not go to university.

In the autumn of 1837, Herbert, having settled down as a railway engineer, moved to London. But after 3 years he left the capital and returned home. There, Spencer tried his hand at studying mathematics, but, since he did not work out with the exact sciences, he quickly lost interest in this venture. But the young man woke up an interest in journalism. In the radical newspaper "Nonconformist" he published 12 articles on political and social topics. In 1843 they were published as a separate book.

In subsequent years, Herbert lived between London and Birmingham, trying his hand at various fields of activity. He wrote plays, poems and poems, published his own magazine, worked as an engineer and architect. At the same time, the young man did not stop studying, got acquainted with the works of British and German thinkers and was preparing to publish his own book.

Philosophy and sociology

Spencer's first work, entitled Social Statics, was published in 1851. In it, the philosopher acted as the founder of the theory of justice, which was subsequently developed in his other works. The basis of the book was a discussion of how to maintain a balance in the state. Herbert believed that such a balance is possible if the social structure is subject to the law of freedom and the system of justice that follows from them.

Aspiring sociologist Herbert Spencer

The reading public greeted Social Statics favorably, but the author himself decided that not everyone could properly appreciate the depth of his work. But Spencer's work attracted the attention of prominent British experts, including Thomas Huxley, George Eliot, Stuart Mill.

Communicating with them, Herbert discovered new names in modern philosophy - one of the new comrades, Mill, introduced him to the works of Auguste Comte. Finding that some of the Frenchman's ideas echoed his own, the thinker felt hurt. Subsequently, Spencer repeatedly emphasized that Comte did not have the slightest influence on his views.

In 1855, the treatise "Fundamentals of Psychology" was published, published in two volumes. In it, Herbert described his own concept of associative psychology. This work was not easy for the author, it took a lot of mental and physical strength. In his own biography, the thinker admitted that in the end his nerves were in a terrible state and he barely completed the essay. But the tests didn't end there. "Foundations of Psychology" did not arouse close interest among readers, the costs of publishing did not pay off, and Spencer was left without a livelihood.

Friends came to the rescue, organizing a preliminary subscription to the "System of Synthetic Philosophy" - a huge work in which Herbert put his whole self. The process of work turned out to be painful for the man - the overwork that had befallen him back in the days of the Foundation of Psychology made itself felt. Nevertheless, in 1862, the first part was published, called "Basic Principles". In 1864 and 1866 two volumes of the Foundations of Biology were published.

In the homeland of the philosopher, both works were not successful, but readers from Russia and America became interested in them. Spencer's New World fans even sent a $7,000 check to the dejected author to help cover publishing costs and keep the planned book series going. Friends had to work hard to persuade Herbert to accept these funds. The thinker until the last refused generous financial assistance, but eventually gave up.

In 1870 and 1872 the Foundations of Psychology were published. At the same time, Spencer had time to work on another essay on sociology. True, he could no longer collect the necessary material alone - with age, the philosopher's vision deteriorated so much that he had to hire a secretary.

Together they systematized data on the social institutions of different peoples, entering information into special tables. The material seemed to Herbert so valuable in itself that he decided to publish it as a separate book. The first part of "Descriptive Sociology" was published in 1871, the publication of other 7 volumes continued until 1880.

Spencer's first commercial success was The Study of Sociology (1873). With it, he wanted to precede the release of "Fundamentals of Sociology" (1877-1896) - according to the author's idea, a kind of introduction was required that would allow readers to understand the new science. Herbert's last works were The Foundations of Ethics (1879-1893), a work that put an end to the System of Synthetic Philosophy.

The British thinker adhered to positivism, a philosophical movement that originated in France. His followers believed that classical metaphysics was unable to provide answers to the pressing questions of modern science. They were not interested in unattainable, speculative knowledge, where they saw much more value in empirical research. Spencer, along with the founder of the movement, Auguste Comte and John Mill, became a representative of the first wave of positivism.

The theory of evolution developed by Herbert was widely adopted. According to her, evolution is the basic law of development inherent in all phenomena. It is characterized by transitions from incoherence to coherence, from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous, and from the definite to the indefinite. According to Spencer, the final stage of evolution is the balance - for example, of progressive and conservative forces in society. The philosopher applied this theory to the analysis of social, biological, psychological and other phenomena.

Herbert was also the author of the organic theory. Society was presented to him as a living organism that increases in mass, becomes more complex, lives as a single whole, at the same time, individual cells (in society, people act as their analogue) are constantly changing: some die, but new ones come to replace them. The philosopher compared state institutions with individual parts of the body that perform certain functions.

In addition to the monumental work “The System of Synthetic Philosophy”, Spencer published a number of books, among which are “The Proper Boundaries of State Power” (1843), “Man and the State” (1884), “Facts and Commentaries” (1902) and others.

Personal life

Not much is known about the philosopher's personal life. The main reason for his loneliness lies in the fact that Herbert devoted himself to work. In 1851, the thinker's friends, after looking for a suitable wife for him, set out to send him down the aisle.

However, these plans were not destined to be realized - having met a girl, Spencer refused marriage. He justified this decision by the fact that the bride is “too developed”. In the future, Herbert never created his own family, all his thoughts turned to science and books.

Death

Herbert Spencer died on December 8, 1903 in Brighton. He was buried at Highgate Cemetery in London, next to the ashes of another outstanding philosopher of the 19th century -. The death of the British thinker was preceded by years of illness - at the end of his life he no longer got out of bed.

The "Autobiography" written by him was published in 1904, and readers swept the books off the shelves. This work by Spencer was talked about long before the publication, numerous pre-orders were received by the publishers. On the first day of sales, "Autobiography" sold out cleanly, the reading public was not even embarrassed by the impressive price.