In science, Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) was an English scientist-philosopher noted for his application of the first law of thermodynamics (or more generally the conservation of energy) in the explanation of biological evolution (evolutionary thermodynamics) and in some respects sociology. [1] Spencer is most notable for what has come to be called the Spencerian dilemma. When his friend, Irish physicist John Tyndall, told Spencer that his views on equilibrium and social euphoria were at odds with the new science of thermodynamics, in that completed physical equilibrium meant omnipresent death, Spencer became ill in spirits for several days. In his own words: [7]

“Regarding, as I have done, equilibrium as the ultimate and highest state of society, I have assumed it to be not only the ultimate but also the highest state of the universe. And your assertion that when equilibrium was reached life must cease, staggered me. Indeed, not seeing my way out of the conclusion, I remember being out of spirits for some days afterwards. I still feel unsettled about the matter.”

Spencer fretting on the matter of equilibrium in relation to life and thermodynamics over the next forty-years

Education
Spencer was educated in empirical science by his father, William George Spencer, who ran a school founded on the progressive teaching methods of Swiss educator Johann Pestalozzi, also serving as secretary of the Derby Philosophical Society, a scientific society which had been founded in the 1790s by Erasmus Darwin, the grandfather of Charles Darwin.

While the members of the Derby Philosophical Society introduced Spencer to concepts of biological evolution, particularly those of Erasmus Darwin and French naturalist Jean Lamarck, his uncle, the reverend Thomas Spencer, vicar of Hinton Charterhouse near Bath, completed Spencer’s limited formal education by teaching him some mathematics and physics, and enough Latin to enable him to translate some easy texts. Otherwise, Spencer was an autodidact who acquired most of his knowledge from narrowly focused readings and conversations with his friends and acquaintances. [6]

First principles
Spencer is best known for his1862 treatise First Principles (of a New System of Philosophy), the fourth edition published in 1880, in which he sought to reconcile the subjects of religion, psychology, and sociology, the latter defined as the “science of human relations”, with physics, chemistry, and biology, all themed on premise of evolution. [2]

Spencer’s use of the conservation of energy is found in his chapter “The Persistence of Force”, where in a footnote he discusses why he prefers the word “force” to “energy” and “persistence” to “conservation”.

Spencerian dilemma

See main: Spencerian dilemma

In circa 1858, Spencer was "staggered" when he was told by Irish physicist John Tyndall that the end state of equilibration is a state of heat death in which life ceases. This issue took him the next forty years to reconcile. [1]

In his 1862 treatise First Principles, Spencer gave prominence to four types or orders of equilibrium or “equilibration”. [2] One of these, called a “moving dependent” equilibration, where expenditure of energy is balanced by the supply of fuel, as exemplified by the steam engine, was used to explain evolutionary adaptation. [1] In short, the force that is dissipated by the machinery is replaced by the fuel fed into the furnace that heats the boiler.

Social organism
Spence, along with French philosopher Pierre Teilhard, are often attributed as being the originators of the "social organism" theory, in which a society is considered as a large living organism. In 1876, to cite on example, Spencer posed the query:

"Are the attributes of society, considered apart from its living units, in any way like those of a not-living body? Or are they in any way like those of a living body? or are they entirely unlike those of both?"

Criticism
Due to the fact that Spencer had limited formal education in mathematics and physics, his work was nearly all verbal, and suffered in some respects in the eyes of early thermodynamicists. Scottish physicist James Maxwell, for instance, in a 29 July 1876 letter to Scottish physicist Peter Tait, states: [3]

“Have you Willard Gibbs' Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances. If not read him. Refreshing after H. Spencer on the Instability of the Homogenous.”

In the Appendix to First Principles, to note, Spencer devotes a section to deal with certain criticisms by Tait, citing quotes by Maxwell as well as references to William Thomson. [4] This all circled around a debate between Tait and Spencer, on the topic of Spencer’s laws of motion, taking place in the correspondence columns of the journal Nature from March to June 1874. [5]

References
1. Bailey, Kenneth D. (1990). Social Entropy Theory (pg. 55-56, 58). New York: State University of New York Press.
2. Spencer, Herbert (1897). First Principles. D. Appleton & Co.
3. Maxwell, James. (1876). “Postcard to Peter Guthrie Tait”, 29 July, in The Scientific Letters and Papers of James Clerk Maxwell: 1874-1879 (pgs. 385), 1990, edited by Peter Harman. Cambridge University Press.
4. ibid, First Principles (pgs. 575-76).
5. Harman, Peter M. (2001). The Natural Philosophy of James Clerk Maxwell (pg. 188). Cambridge University Press.
6. Duncan, David. (1908). The Life and Letters of Herbert Spencer (pgs. 53-55). Methuen & Co.
7. Russett, Cynthia E. (1991). Sexual Science (Spencer and entropy, pg. 128). Harvard University Press.