[Extract] Herbert Spencer (1861), who first coined the phrase "survival of the fittest" to describe Darwin's theory of natural selection asked, "What knowledge is of most worth?" For Spencer, the answer was "science" - basic scientific knowledge was paramount to advancing human insight, society, and happiness. According to Spencer, "Necessary and eternal are its truths, all Science concerns all mankind for all time." (p. 53). In particular, he thought an understanding of the "science of life" or biology was crucial and that all other sciences, including chemistry, physics, and geology, be regarded as a key to the science of life. In Spencer's terms, perhaps nowhere does the value of understanding the science of life apply more aptly than to the field of psychology. The study of psychology and its applications have received great momentum and insight through the integration of the most powerful theory of life - evolutionary theory - and this is witnessed in the very rapid increase in interest and research in the modern field of evolutionary psychology
