Cultural Dynamics of Science Global Spencerism: The Communication and Appropriation of a British Evolutionist Book 1 (Hardcover)

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.