Herbert Spencer is often said to be the first philosophical spokesperson for libertarianism and to have used libertarianism to launch a sharp critique of socialism. In his works, however, Spencer does not use the word "libertarianism" but instead uses the word "liberalism" to refer to his political ideas and positions. Thus, "liberalism" is thought to function as a synonym for libertarianism in Spencer's thought.This paper seeks to discuss Spencer's invocation of liberalism in his 1884 work The Man Versus the State and to clarify the difference between libertarianism and Spencer's liberalism. The paper proceeds in four stages. First, it outlines Spencer's liberalism as articulated in The Man Versus the State. Second, it characterizes Spencer's liberalism and compares it with libertarianism. Third, it discusses some controversial aspects of Spencer's liberalism. Last, the paper proposes a new approach to interpret Spencer's liberalism in light of these arguments. The paper concludes that Spencer's liberalism is not exactly the same as libertarianism; His liberalism is richer in content than libertarianism, for it includes perspectives on a number of philosophical issues, including evolution, human progress, voluntarism, and determinism.
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