Showing posts with label Herbert Spencer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Herbert Spencer. Show all posts

February 22, 2013

Adam Smith defends the soundness of ordinary human being’s judgments

On the occasion of the Mother's Birthday, an evening performance was held at the Matrimandir amphitheater. Passages were read from Savitri "Book of the Divine Mother" and "The Book of Birth and Quest", accompanied by the flute and tanpura. 
21st of February  important day in Auroville's life, FoodLink takes a gift economy's aspect to celebrate this day. Based on the joy of giving, food shopping is an exchange. Farmers bring their productions, vegetable, fruits, milk .... and people pay the price that they can afford. A different way to estimate value of goods, in a typically Aurovilian way of living. This happened in "Pour Tous" next to solar kitchen, finishing at 3 pm. 

10,000 visitors thronged the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Over 10,000 visitors are expected to have crossed the portals of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, to have a ...

A mass meditation was held at Sri Aurobindo Ashram to mark the 135th birth anniversary of the Mother here on Thursday. Devotees from the country as well as...

Talk - Matter – Man’s Last spiritual Frontier at Sri Aurobindo Complex ... Feb 21 2013 04:30 PM Sri Aurobindo Complex Trust 21 Feb, 2013. 'Mother's birth anniversary', talk on 'Matter - man's last spiritual frontier' by Bhaskara Reddy.

MOTHER´S BIRTHDAY AT AUROBINDO (Colonel Nirmal Mahajan, EME, Retd) 21 Feb, was Mother’s 135th birthday
It was celebrated with all the fervor, enthusiasm at the Aurobindo Ashram, Rajpur Road. The Prayer hall was packed to capacity with the devotees who had come to pay homage to Mother. Madhu Anjali, energetic Vice Chairperson of Aurbindo Ashram, had splendidly decked up the whole place with marigold flowers. Flurry of white flowers at the entrance add to the ambiance of Ashram. As always, as per the tradition, the program started with meditation and reading of a page of epic, “Savitri” (written by Sri Aurobindo). Later Kiran Sood, Principal of M.K.P (PG) Collage, gave a thought provoking talk on Mother, which the knowledgeable audience heard in pin drop silence. Kiran is a regular speaker and has in-depth knowledge of spiritual matters…
Special message received from Pondicherry was distributed to all. It read, “There is a sacred fire that burns in the heart and envelops the whole being; it is Agni, who illumines and purifies all. I kindle that fire in you each time that you ask me for some progress; but it destroys nothing but falsehood and obscurity.” The Mother
20 boys and girls of Jaswant Modern School sang few melodious Bhajans, befitting the auspicious occasion, in the presence of their principal Meenakashi Ganhotra. Every one in the vast gathering appreciated chorus singing especially “ Om Namo Shivai” in crescendo. In the end Devi Wahi, chairperson of Aurbindo, profusely thanked Kiran Sood and principal, students of Jaswant Modern School. She also informed the devotees that on 24 Feb, Promila Mahajan will give lecture on “Meditation” at 10:30 AM.  All are welcome. The function was attended by large devotees of Dehradun including Gen Agarwal, Thapar, Mohan Sachdev, Narang , Bansal, Sethi , Mehta , Mahajan and many more. Community lunch was served to one and all. It was indeed a memorable day at Aurobindo Ashram.

As the human mind develops beyond its first focus on purely vital success and fulfillment, we see the next stage as the attempt to abstract out of the life experience some basic principles or rules which get framed into the concept of “right”, which became in the ancient Indian philosophy, the concept known as “Dharma”. We see here a more characteristically mental framework developing an independence from the needs for vital success in life, and a corresponding attempt to control life based on these abstract principles…
We see here a real transition from the non-moral law of the vital world, and the first mental developments focused on supporting and achieving success in the world of life and action, to a more purely mental framework that seeks to modify life, and impose itself regardless of the vital desires and fulfillments. Of course, this starts out as a mixed action still highly colored by the desires, demands and needs of the vital being of man, and thus, the ideals and goals set in this initial stage are very much vital goals.

The term noosphere was originally coined by Teilhard de Chardin the Jesuit anthropologist. However it was Vernadsky integrated the emergence of noosphere with the evolutionary history of the planet… His book ‘The Biosphere’ was published in Russian in 1926 and in French in 1929. With 150 pages and unassuming cover, the book’s importance was not understood fully outside a small minority of inter-disciplinary scientists dealing with eco-systems… In 1960, in the centennial year of the publication of ‘Origin of Species’, Sir Julian Huxley coined the term ‘psycho-social evolution’ to characterize the nature of evolution after the advent of humans. Huxley also strongly felt the need for a psychosocial science for guiding this post-biological evolution…
But what makes Vivekananda more relevant to the study of noosphere is the way he shuns the pseudo-science of social Darwinism. This is a remarkable stand because at that time the most of the Western world was under the sway of Herbert Spencer – applying the ‘survival of the fittest’ to human societies, justifying enslaving of non-western societies, colonial exploitation, racism and elimination of mentally challenged individuals in the name of the science of eugenics… He saw in evolution an underlying unity of all life rejecting spontaneous creation with an external factor like God and he also inferred that with the advent of human mind and unity of humanity, a new phase in evolution has commenced… In fact Vernadsky seeing mind as an important factor in planetary geo-bio evolution gets a premonition in Vivekananda’s thought, though in a much larger canvas… Vernadsky in his last days was deeply attracted by the works of Swami Vivekananda. And this year sees the 150th birth anniversary of both Swami Vivekananda and Vernadsky. 

A central thread running through his work is an unusually strong commitment to the soundness of the ordinary human being’s judgments, and a concern to fend off attempts, by philosophers and policy-makers, to replace those judgments with the supposedly better “systems” invented by intellectuals… Perhaps taking a cue from David Hume’s skepticism about the capacity of philosophy to replace the judgments of common life, Smith is suspicious of philosophy as conducted from a foundationalist standpoint, outside the modes of thought and practice it examines. Instead, he maps common life from within, correcting it where necessary with its own tools rather than trying either to justify or to criticize it from an external standpoint. He aims indeed to break down the distinction between theoretical and ordinary thought. This intellectual project is not unconnected with his political interest in guaranteeing to ordinary individuals the “natural liberty” to act in accordance with their own judgments.

Polanyi suffers from ideological blindness.  He has a political point of view that denies the very evidence he quotes!  

Remembering Arumuga Navalar from Centre Right India by Pulitheva Tamizhmannan
There are other equally great figures who are less famous, but who deserve to be known and remembered. Among them is Arumuga Navalar (1822 – 1879) who is regarded as the “father” of modern day Tamil prose and an architect of Hindu destiny in Eelam (Sri Lanka) is the most prominent member…
The school he established was modeled along the lines of the Protestant school he had studied in since he felt that the traditional Tamil schools were inadequate for facing the missionary onslaught which he saw as shiva’s way of chastising the Tamils and awakening them to their own heritage… By 1850 he had managed to set up the printing press and began publishing religious texts and texts like Bala Patam (Children’s Lessons) for the Shaiva school children… To put it simply, Arumuga Navalar created an awakening among the Sri Lankan Tamils and set the standards for modern day Tamil prose; what Swami Dayananda and his Arya Samaj had achieved in North India in stemming conversions, Arumuga Navalar achieved in Eelam.

At a time, when India was suffering from corruption, low economic growth etc, and the common man was left with frustration and anger over the system, Hindi Cinema turned violent and aggressive. Reflecting the anger of the masses, Amitabh Bachchan became the new hero, who had the courage to fight against the wrong and maintaining moral values at the same time… Reflective of "the tumultuous politics of the early 70s" in India, Deewaar (1975 film) was a ground-breaking work. It was one of a few films which established Bachchan as the "angry young man" of Bollywood cinema. ~ How do movies affect yoga practice?

December 27, 2012

Augment Whitehead with Sri Aurobindo

RESEARCH IN PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION-ABSTRACTS DEVI, S., A Critical Study of the Concept of Creativity in Philosophy with special reference to Bergson, Whitehead and Sri Aurobindo, Ph. D. Phil., Kur. U., 1976
The objectives of the study were (i) to find out if creativity was the general scheme of reality, (ii) to find out if creativity was linked with different concepts of this universe, that is, with becoming, cosmic evolution, consciousness, organic evolution and teleology, (iii) to trace the historical background of creativity both in Indian and in Western thought, with special reference to the Vedas, Upanishads, Plato and Plotinus, (iv) to locate the concept of creativity in Bergson's ideas, (v) to investigate how Whitehead contributed to the concept of creativity, (vi) to identify the concept of creativity in the ideas of Sri Aurobindo, and (vii) to analyse various theories of creative evolution developed by S. Alexander, L. Morgan and James Ward.
The methodology adopted was philosophical, historical and comparative. The study was philosophical in the sense that ideas of various personalities were organized, critically analysed and evaluated. It was historical because the development of the concept of creativity from various sources had been traced. Further, it was comparative as commonness between the ideas and theories of various persons on the concept of creativity had been identified and critically evaluated. Content analysis was used both as a tool and technique to analyse the educational ideas of Tagore and Whitehead. Content analysis consisted of documentary analysis and thematic analysis. For content analysis, primary as well as secondary sources were used. The material was also examined to find out its suitability for the proposed research by way of internal and external criticism.
Some of the findings of the study were:
1. Creativity constitutes the very basis of reality.
2. Creativity has been conceived by various thinkers as an exercise of nonfigurative powers of the whole psyche involving all its substance, the play of its entire energy. The creative action is more than cerebral, more than visceral, involving more than mind and heart, intellect and emotions. It augments the structure of human vision by introducing some new, vital configuration of ideas or from among those available to organize experience.
3. Creativity was the power to evolve a pattern that remained omnipotent insofar as it touched the details of actualization. Creativity was a widely recognized ideal for every human being.
4. Both east and west emphasized that what was creative about spiritual experience was not its psychological accompaniments but the inward change which manifested itself in the fruits of the spirit-peace, JOY and loving suffering. A new type of life emerged with a higher correspondence between one's self and the ultimate sources of reality. New qualities of mind and character were called forth out of ordinary men and women, qualities which manifested the Divine in them.
5. Bergson's concepts elan-vital had led to a revolutionary syndical that would restore a purified social life by insisting that social change in any class of people could be achieved only by the force of their own associations, through means that would evolve so as to suit their particular needs. In the theory of science, he had inspired a new `positivism' that criticized scientific data in a vigorous and original way and showed how much arbitrariness there was in our methods of measurement of magnitudes.
6. Whitehead introduced an omnibus principle called creativity, which was a sort of universal blanket to cover all logical branches that his philosophy had created. Whitehead's emphasis on the organic character of natural systems and his attempt to bring physics and biology closer together had a good deal in common with the Gestalt approach to mind and nature.
7. Some emergentists advocated the theory of levels according to which evolution proceeded by the method of creative synthesis and life and mind came of a certain kind of organization of non-living elements. These new qualities could not be inferred by merely adding together the qualities of elements taking part in the organization. At each new level of reality, new powers, new capacities and new qualities emerged. Life appeared at one of these levels. Along with it emerged a series of new qualities such as growth, assimilation, irritability, adaptability and reproduction. Mind was the result of still more highly complex organizations. This was called creative evolution or emergent evolution whose pioneers were Bergson, Alexander, Morgan and Ward.
8. Sri Aurobindo's evolution admitted both mechanism and emergence, determinism and freedom. The creator was the supermind and it was a power of Sachchidananda. Hence the process of evolution was free, self-imposed and self-determined by Sachchidananda. The world was not the result of blind chance but a self-manifestation of the ultimate. Nature's processes appeared to us to be mechanical merely because the purpose was under disguise. Nothing was created from outside.
9. Creativity constitutes the very basis or foundation of reality. It was the creative purpose which steered and guided cosmic evolution and natural evolution. Creativity in human civilization was the expression of creation, which was at the root of nature and reality.
10. Man's future is in the hands of two creative agencies, his biological evolution and his psychological evolution. Genetic and natural environmental forces continued to influence the development of man. Psychological control dominates the direction of human evolution. Man's personal potential is biological, but he is freely And creatively designed. His future depended upon his understanding and attitudes towards reality. Man would be creative and free in projecting his future only if he could at one and the same time realistically immerse himself in the history of his age and culture, discover trans-historical meaning and affirm divine communication. 
11. Bergson, Sri Aurobindo and Whitehead are quite close to each other as far as the process of creativity is concerned.

Now that I've completed preparatory research essays on Schelling (The Re-Emergence of Schelling: Philosophy in a Time of Emergency) and Whitehead (Physics of the World-Soul: The Relevance of A.N. Whitehead’s Philosophy of Organism to Contemporary Scientific Cosmology), it’s finally time to start zeroing in on my dissertation thesis. The title I’m proposing for now is Imagination Between...

Sri Aurobindo, the hope of man - Page 309 - Keshavmurti - 1969 - In the beginning Sri Aurobindo did not concern himself much with the war though he knew that poor leadership in England and France was at least partly responsible for Hitler's truculent and bellicose ...
Collected Works: Words of the mother - Page 127 - Mother - 1980 - 1 April 1946 A Declaration Sri Aurobindo withdrew from politics; and, in his Ashram, a most important rule is that one must abstain from all politics — not because Sri Aurobindo did not concern himself with the happenings of the world, but because politics, as it is practised, is a low and ugly thing, wholly dominated by falsehood, deceit, injustice, misuse of power and violence; ...
The Political Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo - Page xv - V. P. Varma - 1990 - Preview - More editions Possibly such reconstruction of the political philosophy of Aurobindo might not appeal to some sections in our country who would regard it as an enterprise in the profanization of a sacred personality. But we must not forget that Aurobindo was ...
Quest - Volumes 93-98 - Page 16 - Indian Committee for Cultural Freedom - 1975 - Aurobindo might not have had the time or the inclination to enter into a proper study of the scientific picture of the world. Also, some of the great discoveries took place after his self-imposed seclusion. However, the theories of relativity and ... Sri Aurobindo Ghose - Page 581 - Verinder Grover - 1993
Sri Aurobindo's treatment of Hindu myth - Page 32 - Jan Feys - 1983 - But for these queries Aurobindo might not have spoken of it at all. His general approach to myth also holds good here. Thus, e.g., Radha under the spell of Krishna symbolises "the soul, the psychic, hearing the call of the Divine". Aurobindo's ...
Sri Aurobindo--the poet - Volume 2, Part 4 - Page 162 - Kaikhushru Dhunjibhoy Sethna - 1999 - Just as the merits of Savitri were appreciated to the utmost, whatever seemed a shortcoming no matter how slight and negligible in the midst of the abundant excellence was pointedly remarked upon so that Sri Aurobindo might not overlook... Sri Aurobindo: Savitri; a legend and a symbol - Page 733 - Aurobindo Ghose - 1970
The philosophy of Sri Aurobindo: his idea of evolution - Page 58 - Joseph Veliyathil - 1972 - So Aurobindo might not have felt the necessity of attributing immediacy to the acquisition of knowledge by the intellectual faculty. This made him limit the intellectual operation to discursive level only. Now if a comparison may be made ...
Sri Aurobindo--secularist? or nationalist? - Page 37 - Ke. Es Nārāyaācārya - 2006 - ... a detail Sri Aurobindo might not have known, as most savants of 'unity' took it for granted that Islam too was a 'religion' like any other, without realising its diabolic, predatory nature. Only recent researches are waking us up all over the world.
Letters on Savitri - Page 10 - Aurobindo GhoseSri AurobindoKaikhushru Dhunjibhoy Sethna - 2000 - Just as the merits of Savitri were appreciated to the utmost, whatever seemed a shortcoming no matter how slight and negligible in the midst of the abundant excellence was pointedly remarked upon so that Sri Aurobindo might not overlook...
Swami Vivekananda and Indian Nationalism - Page 91 - Subodh Chandra Sen Gupta - 1984 - Although Aurobindo might not have known the 'tens of thousands of young men' beaming with patriotic fervour, he should not have failed to see that most of them could not have much to do with P. Mitra's Samiti, some associates and members ...
The Light at the Center: Context and Pretext of Modern Mysticism - Page 104 - Agehananda Bharati - 1976 - His writings are different indeed from those of the older Vivekananda and the younger Sivananda. Aurobindo might not have been a good poet, but he was a poet; he might not have been a thinker in any professional sense, but he expressed ...
The oneness/otherness mystery: the synthesis of science and mysticism - Page 508 - Sutapas Bhattacharya - 1999 - Preview ... of the material order is held by Aurobindo, Whitehead and others to be Nature's development of habits (stable patterns of behaviour emerging from repetition) rather than laws obeyed by Nature. Reality is fundamentally creative but patterns ...
Sri Aurobindo and Vedānta Philosophy - Page 71 - Sheojee Pandey - 1987 - Preview - More editions Here we have to say that Whitehead's Philosophy of evolution is more close and more similar to that of Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy of evolution. Like Whitehead Sri Aurobindo also believes that God is the ultimate principle and the evolution ...
Evolutionary, Spiritual Conceptions of Life - Sri Aurobindo, ... - Page 35 - Michael Leicht - 2008 - Preview Here Aurobindo gets quiet sociological. In the following I want to correct one misunderstanding of Madhusudan Reddy of Whitehead's theory: He assumes that Whitehead's philosophy has no final goal of evolution (Reddy, 2004: 156).
Aurobindo's Philosophy of Brahman - Page 3 - Stephen H. Phillips - 1986 - Preview - More editions I doubt that one could overstate the importance of Aurobindo's mysticism for his philosophy. How then is he a metaphysician? A.N. Whitehead gives a just characterization of the trade: "Speculative Philosophy," he says, "is the endeavor to...
The Eye of Spirit: An Integral Vision for a World Gone Slightly Mad - Page 356 - Ken Wilber - 2001 - Preview - More editions Notice that Shankara, Nagarjuna, Aurobindo, Plotinus (and Alexander and Wilber) can pass this test; Whitehead does not. This is not a secondary issue; it is at the precise heart of the matter, a heart that Whitehead lacks. Thus, the notion of ...
Cognitive models and spiritual maps: interdisciplinary ... - Volume 7, Issues 11-12 - Page 202 - Jensine AndresenRobert K. C. Forman - 2001 - Preview What Whitehead doesn't have, something essential to Wilber, is the Great Nest or Chain of Being in addition to the Great Network of Being. For that, we would need to augment Whitehead with Aurobindo. I agree with Wilber that Whitehead's ...
The Essential Aurobindo: Writings of Sri Aurobindo - Page 23 - Aurobindo GhoseRobert A. McDermott - 2001 - Preview - More editions In its philosophic comprehensiveness, Sri Aurobindo's philosophy finds its contemporary Western analogue among the systematic thinkers — Royce, Bergson, Whitehead, and Heidegger; in its spiritual and autobiographic quality, it more closely resembles Kierkegaard and Buber, and perhaps Heidegger and Wittgenstein.
Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy of Social Development - Page 40 - Preview This is what Sri Aurobindo has attempted in his metaphysics of evolution. And it is here that the theories of Darwin, Lamarck, Herbert Spencer, S. Alexander, Whitehead, Lloyd Morgan, Bergson, Hegel and Croce have stopped short of the ...
Integral Psychology - Page 84 - Ken Wilber - 2000 - Preview Maslow. Abraham Maslow (1908–1970) is well known enough that I will only make a few passing comments. Like all truly great integral thinkers— from Aurobindo to Gebser to Whitehead to Baldwin to Habermas—he was a developmentalist.
Faith possesses understanding: a suggestion for a new direction in ... - Page 220 - Jehangir Nasserwanji Chubb - 1983 - Preview - More editions It can be said of Sri Aurobindo what Eckhart said of God : 'In him there is no denial except the denial of all denials.' Upanishadic paradox, 216 Whitehead, A.N., 182 Upanishads, 16, 60, 210. See my article The Logic of the Infinite in the ...

July 13, 2012

68 MPs have asked the trustees for an explanation

Humanity has essentially gotten to the point where it is on the edge of the abyss and is facing a stark choice of its future and to a very great degree, even its potential survival. We have explored, developed and unleashed enormous forces at the material level, to the point of having the power to manipulate the building blocks of the material world through nuclear research, and the building blocks of life through genetic research and manipulation. We have brought the whole world together with a clash of cultures, ideas, motivations and religious sentiments, with the enormous tension and conflict that arises through that meeting process. We have gained enormous powers to manipulate the mind, emotions and desires and have used these powers to accentuate and drive ever greater desire and hunger for “more”. We exploit the world’s resources with abandon and fail to address the impact, the “unintended consequences” of our actions.
All of the new powers we have developed have not been matched by the development of new higher ideals and a greater guiding light for the application of these popwers. We thus find ourselves struggling, suffering and on the very brink of destruction, confused, living in a world whose complexity far exceeds the ability of the human mind to understand or harmonise.
What is needed, the choice before us, is whether we will use the pressure of these contradictions, the pressure of our very ability to survive, to find our spiritual destiny, our evolutionary direction in the development of universality and harmony, and in the development of new powers of spiritual consciousness which alone can resolve the contradictions we face and harness the forces we have unleashed, and put them to work for a greater goal, or whether we will fall victim to our own partial, limited success on the material and vital planes… We have reached the limitations of the power of mental organisation to grapple with the complexity of the forces in the world.

This Week Tamil Nadu: Heehs in the line of fire, again - Gopu Mohan : Fri Jul 13 2012, 03:57 hrs Indian Express
When his visa was finally renewed, US-born historian Peter Heehs might have thought that the controversy around his biography on Sri Aurobindo was a closed chapter. As it turns out, it is not. A group of MPs cutting across party lines has written to the trustees in charge of the Aurobindo ashram, in the process reopening the whole controversy surrounding The Lives of Sri Aurobindo, a book critically acclaimed yet derided by Aurobindo’s devotees. The letter, signed jointly by 68 MPs, has asked the trustees for an explanation why they did not take any action against Heehs for what he wrote. The case against Heehs is that his work shows Sri Aurobindo and Mirra Alfassa — Mother to members of the ashram — in bad light.

Yeserday's General Meeting to discuss collective values and priorities has showed that need to communicate and find common solutions is more than obvious. Although we might have different opinions and ideas how to proceed, is also clear that collective spirit of community is there, at least amongst those who participated. And as we may differ on some points, to most members of community the leading thread - idea, set forth by the Mother and Sri Aurobindo is clear, along with the higher inner state of consciousness in progress 

The evolutionary process of Nature provides humanity the opportunity, but not the guarantee, of providing the foundation for the next evolutionary stage to develop. Historically we note the systematic development of increasing powers of consciousness. There is a general correllation with an increasing power and complexity of consciousness through this development, with the first stages generally corresponding to the basic physical and vital needs and considerations, with further development focused on the mental and emotional powers including ethics, morality, aesthetics, religion and spirituality and science.
There is however an apparent roadblock that could represent an opportunity for humanity to miss the opportunity to lead the further evolutionary development. The rise of materialism and focus on the use of science to develop physical comfort and media for distraction and entertainment has created a society that has essentially gone back to a focus on the physical and vital needs and fulfillment of desire. Should humanity fail to overcome the temptation to simply create a society of physical creature comforts and vital satisfaction, without encouraging, supporting and developing the higher ranges of consciousness, then we would become another “dead end” of evolution, a species that becomes more or less “static” in the increasing development of consciousness, an evolutionary “failure”.
Nature will not abandon its further development. It is simply that another form or species will have to develop to take over for the failed initiative of humanity.
Sri Aurobindo describes the necessary impetus: “…it is the inner spiritual necessity, the push from what is there yet unrealised within him that maintains in him, once he has attained to mind, the evolutionary stress, the spiritual nisus.”
If we reject this effort, then humanity will lose its pre-eminence in the current evolutionary developmental cycle.

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) was a social evolutionist without question but he was never crudely social Darwinist. He was a liberal utilitarian first who traded heavily in evolutionary theory in order to explain how our liberal utilitarian sense of justice emerges.
Though a utilitarian, Spencer took distributive justice no less seriously than Mill. For him as for Mill, liberty and justice were equivalent. Whereas Mill equated fundamental justice with his liberty principle, Spencer equated justice with equal liberty, which holds that the “liberty of each, limited by the like liberty of all, is the rule in conformity with which society must be organized” (Spencer, 1970: 79). Moreover, for Spencer as for Mill, liberty was sacrosanct, insuring that his utilitarianism was equally a bona fide form of liberalism. For both, respect for liberty also just happened to work out for the utilitarian best all things considered. Indefeasible liberty, properly formulated, and utility were therefore fully compossible…
Spencer's liberal utilitarianism also has much to recommend for it simply for its much undervalued importance in the development of modern liberalism. If Mill and Sidgwick are critical to making sense of our liberal canon, then Spencer is no less critical. If both are crucial for coming to terms with Rawls particularly, and consequently with post-Rawlsianism generally, as I strongly believe both are, then Spencer surely deserves better from recent intellectual history. Intellectual history is one of the many important narratives we tell and retell ourselves. What a shame when we succumb to scholarly laziness in constructing these narratives just because such laziness both facilitates meeting the pedagogical challenges of teaching the liberal tradition and answering our need for a coherent philosophical identity.