Quote from Spencer :
"Manifestly, the establishment of correlation and equivalence between the forces of the outer and the inner worlds, may be used to assimilate either to the other; according as we set out with one or other term. But he who rightly interprets the doctrine contained in this work, will see that neither of these terms can be taken as ultimate. He will see that though the relation of subject and object renders necessary to us these antithetical conceptions of Spirit and Matter; the one is no less than the other to be regarded as but a sign of the Unknown Reality which underlies both." — Pantagruel
Apparently, Spencer was trying to reconcile our commonsense division of the world into Subjective (Inner ; Spirit) and Objective (Outer ; Matter). Like him, I have tried to conciliate Inner & Outer worlds in my personal worldview of
Enformationism. In that thesis, the "unknown reality" is the well-known, but little understood, phenomenon of "Information". Its original meaning was subjective, as the contents of human minds : Knowledge. But then Shannon used the term to refer to the neither subjective nor objective carriers of meaning (1s & 0s), instead of the contents. More recently, Theoretical & Quantum physicists have discovered that Information (in the form of Energy) is also the organizing mathematical structure of Matter, hence Objective. So, I have concluded that neither the Subjective, nor Objective aspects of reality is "ultimate". Instead, my view is that everything is ultimately a form of
Generic Information.
I've never had occasion to read much of Spencer's work. So, my impression of him was mostly due to the thesis of
Social Darwinism. For which, he was maligned by Social Liberals. But, I suspect that his intentions were not to support Capitalism or Fascism, but to foster a broader scientific worldview. Perhaps, he wanted to combine the "How" of Science, with the "Why" of Philosophy and Religion.
Legacy :
The basis for Spencer's appeal to many of his generation was that he appeared to offer a ready-made system of belief which could substitute for conventional religious faith at a time when orthodox creeds were crumbling under the advances of modern science.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Spencer
EnFormAction :
Literally, the act of enforming --- to fashion, to create, to cause.
1. Metaphorically, the Will of G*D flowing through the world to cause evolutionary change in a teleological direction.
2. Immaterial Information is almost always defined in terms of its physical context or material container. (e.g. mathematical DNA code in chemical form)
3. Raw En-Form-Action has few, if any, definable perceivable qualities. By itself, Information is colorless, odorless, and formless. Unlike colorless, odorless, and formless water though, Information gives physical form to whatever is defined by it.
4. Like DNA, Information shapes things via internal rather than external constraints. Like the Laws of Physics, Information is the motivating & constraining force of physical reality. Like Energy, Information is the universal active agent of the cosmos. Like Spinoza's God, Information appears to be the single substance of the whole World.
5. Information is the divine Promethean power of transformation. Information is Generic in the sense of generating all forms from a formless pool of possibility : the Platonic Forms.
http://bothandblog2.enformationism.info/page29.html
PS__What was the source of your Spencer's quote above?
