The Man versus the State

Henry Hazlitt says that this book is “One of the most powerful and influential arguments for limited government, laissez faire and individualism ever written.”

Spencer played a huge role in the history of ideas, one that contemporary sociologists have sadly neglected other than to dismiss him as “social Darwinist.” In fact, his great contribution was precisely to untangle the study of society from all claims that it operated as a life form apart from the choices made by individuals.

He was a laissez-faire radical in times when academia was becoming ever more illiberal. He was an opponent of militarism, economic regulation, infringement on personal liberty, and government centralization.

This edition of Herbert’s fiery book published in 1884, includes additional material — the great English libertarian sociologist Herbert Spencer sees a statist corruption appearing within the liberal ideological framework, and warned of the Coming Slavery.

It was Darwin who took his metaphors from Spencer, who was one of the last defenders of the classical-liberal idea in England. He was the scholar who argued for the law of equal freedom: “Every man has freedom to do all that he wills, provided he infringes not the equal freedom of any other man.”

In this book, he presents that argument that liberalism, which liberated the world from slavery and feudalism, was undergoing a transformation. Its new love for the state would put liberalism behind a movement to create a new despotism that would be worse than the old.