The only other English philosopher to have achieved anything like such widespread popularity was Bertrand Russell, and that was in the 20th century. He was probably the first, and possibly the only, philosopher in history to sell over a million copies of his works during his own lifetime. While most philosophers fail to achieve much of a following outside the academy of their professional peers, by the 1870s and 1880s Spencer had achieved an unparalleled popularity, as the sheer volume of his sales indicate. Charles Darwin referred to him as "our great philosopher." 1 It is about a contemporary of his, Herbert Spencer, who was developing a theory of evolution before Darwin and is credited with coining the phrase "the survival of the fittest." His books sold in huge numbers during his lifetime and he was almost certainly the most famous philosopher of the Victorian age. But this essay is not about Charles Darwin. Last year marked the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin.
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