斯宾塞的社会进化论思想述评

A Review of Spicer’s Theory of Social Evolution

赫伯特•斯宾塞是英国哲学家和社会学家,也是西方早期的社会学家,与孔德同是社会实证主义的开创者。他的社会学理论包含两大内容,一是把社会理解为有机体,二是社会进化思想,运用了生物学类比的方法,系统地阐述了这两大理论。文章主要是对其本人的社会进化思想做一个述评,他的进化论思想存在两面性,既有进步性,也有局限的一面。

Herbert Spencer is a British philosopher and sociologist, and also an early Western sociologist. He is the founder of social positivism together with Comte. His sociological theory includes two major contents, one is the understanding of society as an organism, and the other is the thought of social evolution. He uses the method of biological analogy to systematically elaborate these two theories. This paper mainly makes a comment on his own thought of social evolution, his evolutionary thought has two sides, both progressive, but also limited.