...entirely identify the social organism with the living organism. Society, he says, is an organism, but " it is not comparable to any particular type of individual organism, animal or vegetable." The analogy that he institutes, however, is carried into such detail as to stop little...

...asymetrical instead of symetrical, sensitive in all of its units instead of having a single sensitive center, is not comparable to any particular type of individual organism, animal or vegetable. There exist no analogies between the body politic and a living body, except those necessitated...

...latter structures and functions furnish familiar illustrations of structures and functions in general. "All kinds of creatures are alike in so far as each...among its components for the benefit of the whole; . . . this ... is common also to societies. Further, among individual organisms, the degree of cooperation...

...illustration; he does not intend to say that society is literally an organism, as this passage makes clear: Here let it once more be distinctly asserted that...common to them, is a trait common also to societies. . . . community in the fundamental principles of organization is the only community asserted.93 (Emphasis...

...body, have in many cases been made," he says with great candor, but, I am afraid, with little logic, "the social organism, discrete instead of concrete,...not comparable to any particular type of individual organism."8 This clearly amounts to saying that a society is after all a multiplicity rather than a...

...the analogy of the biological to the social. But then Spencer explicidy maintains just this position: The social organism, discrete instead of concrete,...particular type of individual organism, animal or vegetal. (Spencer 1885, §269) The social order is subject to the same laws directing biological evolution,...

...acknowledge and prepare for the formidable challenges that future generations will inevitably face. All kinds of creatures are alike in so far as each...components for the benefit of the whole; and this trait ... is common also to societies. — Herbert Spencer SUMMARY: The so-called organismic analogy, which...

...interdependence and integration of parts into a unified whole. "All kinds of creatures are alike," Spencer wrote, "in so far as each exhibits co-operation among its...this trait, common to them, is a trait common also to societies."56 Adaptation of the part, be it a cell or an individual, to the whole thus resulted in...