Herbert Spencer
Ethics

Spencer predicted in his first book that the endpoint of the evolutionary process will be the creation of 'the perfect man in the perfect society' with human beings becoming completely adapted to social life. The chief difference between Spencer's earlier and later conceptions of this process is the evolutionary timescale involved. The psychological – and hence also the moral – constitution which has been bequeathed to the present generation by our ancestors, and which we in turn will hand on to future generations, is in the process of gradual adaptation to the requirements of living in society. For example, aggression is a survival instinct which was necessary in the primitive conditions of life, but is maladaptive in advanced societies. Because human instincts have a specific location in strands of brain tissue, they are subject to the Lamarckian mechanism of use-inheritance so that gradual modifications could be transmitted to future generations. Over the course of many generations, the evolutionary process will ensure that human beings will become less aggressive and increasingly altruistic, leading eventually to a perfect society in which no one would cause another person pain.

However, Spencer held, for evolution to produce the perfect individual it is necessary for present and future generations to experience the 'natural' consequences of their conduct. Only in this way will individuals have the incentives required to work on self-improvement and thus to hand an improved moral constitution to their descendants. Hence anything that interferes with the 'natural' relationship of conduct and consequence was to be resisted and this included the use of the coercive power of the state to relieve poverty, to provide public education, or to require compulsory vaccination. Although charitable giving is to be encouraged even it has to be limited by the consideration that suffering is frequently the result of individuals receiving the consequences of their actions. Hence too much individual benevolence directed to the 'undeserving poor' would break the link between conduct and consequence that Spencer considered fundamental to ensuring that humanity continues to evolve to a higher level of development.

Spencer adopted a utilitarian standard of ultimate value – the greatest happiness of the greatest number – and the culmination of the evolutionary process will be the maximization of utility. In the perfect society, individuals would not only derive pleasure from the exercise of altruism ('positive beneficence') but would aim to avoid inflicting pain on others ('negative beneficence'). They would also instinctively respect the rights of others, leading to the universal observance of the principle of justice – each person had the right to a maximum amount of liberty that was compatible with a like liberty in others. 'Liberty' is interpreted to mean the absence of coercion, and is closely connected to the right to private property. Spencer termed this code of conduct 'Absolute Ethics' which provided a scientifically grounded moral system that could substitute for the supernaturally-based ethical systems of the past. However, he recognized that our inherited moral constitution does not currently permit us to behave in full compliance with the code of Absolute Ethics, and for this reason, we need a code of 'Relative Ethics' which takes into account the distorting factors of our present imperfections.

Spencer's distinctive view of musicology was also related to his ethics. Spencer thought that the origin of music is to be found in impassioned oratory. Speakers have persuasive effect not only by the reasoning of their words, but by their cadence and tone – the musical qualities of their voice serve as "the commentary of the emotions upon the propositions of the intellect," as Spencer put it. Music, conceived as the heightened development of this characteristic of speech, makes a contribution to the ethical education and progress of the species. "The strange capacity which we have for being affected by melody and harmony, may be taken to imply both that it is within the possibilities of our nature to realize those intenser delights they dimly suggest, and that they are in some way concerned in the realization of them. If so the power and the meaning of music become comprehensible; but otherwise they are a mystery."

Spencer's last years were characterized by a collapse of his initial optimism, replaced instead by a pessimism regarding the future of mankind. Nevertheless, he devoted much of his efforts to reinforcing his arguments and preventing the misinterpretation of his monumental theory of non-interference.
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