Lives of Eminent Victorians. Autobiography and Evolutionism in Darwin and Spencer.

Journal title RIVISTA DI STORIA DELLA FILOSOFIA
Author/s Sergio Bucchi
Publishing Year 2013 Issue 2013/4
Language Italian Pages 22 P. 699-720 File size 515 KB
DOI 10.3280/SF2013-004003
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The customary tribute to every "eminent Victorian" was in this case particularly significant, because the three volumes edited by Francis Darwin included, among other things, the first edition of the great naturalist’s autobiography, and an important essay by Thomas Henry Huxley on the revolutionary effect that the publication of the Origin of Species had on Victorian public opinion. Around the same time, Herbert Spencer decided to revise the material for his autobiography with a view to its publication. One of the main goals of the Spencer’s work was to claim the complete originality of his approach to evolutionary theory. The present essay aims to compare the two autobiographies, supplemented by the recollections of the main protagonists of the age, with a view to re-examining significant documents in Victorian archives of evolutionism.

Keywords: Autobiography, Darwin, evolution, natural selection, Spencer, synthetic philosophy

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  2. Aveling 1883: Edward B. Aveling, The Religious Views of Charles Darwin, Freethought Publishing Company, London 1883.
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  10. Darwin 1993: Id., vol. 8, 1860, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1993.
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  12. Duncan 1908: David Duncan, The Life and Letters of Herbert Spencer, Methuen & Co., London 1908.
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  14. Huxley 1903: Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley, by his son Leonard Huxley, in three volumes, Macmillan and Co., London and New York 1903.
  15. Lanaro 1990: Giorgio Lanaro, L’evoluzionismo di Spencer come alternativa al positivismo di Comte, in Id., Il positivismo tra scienza e religione, FrancoAngeli, Milano 1990, pp. 140-168.
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  17. La Vergata 1980: Antonello La Vergata, H. Spencer: sopravvivenza del più adatto ed evoluzione cosmica, in Scienza e storia. Analisi critica e problemi attuali, a cura di Silvano Tagliagambe e Antonio Di Meo, Editori Riuniti, Roma 1980 (Quaderni di «Critica marxista», 2), pp. 205-232.
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  20. Strachey 1918: (Giles) Lytton Strachey, Eminent Victorians, Oxford University Press, Oxford-New York 2009 (la prima edizione del libro è del 1918).

Sergio Bucchi, Storie di vittoriani eminenti. Evoluzionismo e autobiografia in Darwin e Spencer in "RIVISTA DI STORIA DELLA FILOSOFIA" 4/2013, pp 699-720, DOI: 10.3280/SF2013-004003