Will the Real Herbert Spencer Please Stand Up?
Herbert Spencer doesn’t deserve his reputation as a “Social Darwinist,” and shouldn’t be used to attack libertarians.
Trevor Burrus is a research fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Constitutional Studies. His research interests include constitutional law, civil and criminal law, legal and political philosophy, and legal history. His work has appeared in the Vermont Law Review, the Syracuse Law Review, and the Jurist, as well as the Washington Times, Huffington Post, and the Daily Caller. He holds a BA in Philosophy from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a JD from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.
Herbert Spencer doesn’t deserve his reputation as a “Social Darwinist,” and shouldn’t be used to attack libertarians.
The Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell affirmed the legality of forced sterilizations. How could such a thing happen? And what does it say about science and policy?