Why Not Spencer?

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Abstract
This paper is a response to Carneiro's contention that the theory of evolution proposed by Herbert Spencer is similar, and in some respects superior, to Darwin's. An attempt is made to show that Spencer maintained a teleological orientation toward the process of evolution, whereas Darwinian theory destroyed that teleology by noting the independence of organismic variation and natural selection. The roles which Spencer assigned to the environment in evolution are shown to be at variance with Darwin's theory and support a teleological, progressive, unilinear version of evolution. A distinction is made between Darwinism as a valid theoretical school and Darwin's original formulation of evolutionary principles.

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