Herbert Spencer 
First Principles (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) 

 One of the author’s many treatises on the foundations of knowledge, this collection focuses on science. Part One, “The Unknowable, ” discusses ultimate religious and scientific theories which Spencer sees as unknowable. Part Two, “The Knowable, ” explains data; concepts such as motion, forces, and evolution; segregation; equilibrium; and dissolution—in other words, concepts that are provable and knowable.

About the author

Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) was an English philosopher and theorist. He applied the doctrine of evolution to sociology and coined the term “survival of the fittest.” Though his work eventually fell out of favor, his writings have since gained renewed recognition from libertarian thinkers, who support his beliefs about the function of government and the nature of individual rights. Spencer was nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature in 1902.