Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) was an English philosopher, psychologist, biologist, sociologist, and anthropologist, politically oriented towards liberal ideas.
Spencer developed an all-embracing conception of evolution as the progressive development of the physical world, biological organisms, the human mind, and human culture and societies. As a polymath, he contributed to a wide range of subjects, including ethics, religion, anthropology, economics, political theory, philosophy, literature, astronomy, biology, sociology, and psychology.
The Herbert Spencer's essay From Freedom to Bondage was published in April 1891 on the magazine Popular Science Monthly. It was an introduction to a collection of essays entitled A Plea for Liberty; An Argument against Socialism and Socialistic Legislation, edited by Dr. Thomas Mackay in New York the same year.