The Formation Of Character

Abstract

Abstract In the previous chapter it was shown that Spencer’s theory of evolution incorporated both Darwinian and Lamarckian elements. Having examined the role which the Darwinian notion of the struggle for existence played in Individualist political thought, the focus of the present chapter will be on the political implications of the Lamarckian theory of use inheritance, and in particular its role in developing an account of character formation which underpinned the Individualists’ fears that a substantial sphere of State activity would be antithetical to the virtues of self-reliance, independence, and respect for the rights of others. It will be argued that Spencer used Lamarckianism to support his view that the virtues of character were not to be promoted by the conscious design of the legislator, but only by the individual being prepared to develop inherited ‘natural’ faculties of the mind. As part of his attempt to confer scientific credibility on this theory of the formation of individual character, Spencer also transformed the classical associationist psycho logy in a direction which provides additional confirmation for our central contention that Individualism represented a conservative adaptation of the liberal tradition.