This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

It provides a cross-section of Spencer's works from his more popular and approachable essays to a number of the volumes of the Synthetic Philosophy itself. Volume V: First Principles.

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) was an English philosopher; prominent classical liberal political theorist; and sociological theorist of the Victorian era.