The Principles of Biology
E707107
The Principles of Biology is a foundational 19th-century work by Herbert Spencer that applies evolutionary theory and systematic philosophical reasoning to explain the laws and processes of life.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Principles of Biology | 1 |
| The Principles of Biology canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T8056885 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Principles of Biology Context triple: [Herbert Spencer's Synthetic Philosophy, hasPart, The Principles of Biology]
-
A.
On the Study of Biology
"On the Study of Biology" is an essay by Thomas Henry Huxley that reflects on the nature, methods, and educational value of biological science.
-
B.
Essays of a Biologist
Essays of a Biologist is a collection of influential essays by evolutionary biologist Julian Huxley that explores biology’s implications for human society, philosophy, and the modern worldview.
-
C.
The Science of Life
The Science of Life is a landmark early 20th-century biology book co-authored by H.G. Wells, his son George Philip Wells, and Julian Huxley that presents modern biological science in an accessible, encyclopedic form.
-
D.
On the Physical Basis of Life
"On the Physical Basis of Life" is a seminal 19th-century essay by biologist Thomas Henry Huxley that argues for a materialistic, scientific explanation of life processes.
-
E.
Systematics and the Origin of Species
Systematics and the Origin of Species is a landmark 1942 book by evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr that helped establish the modern biological species concept and integrated systematics with evolutionary theory.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Principles of Biology Target entity description: The Principles of Biology is a foundational 19th-century work by Herbert Spencer that applies evolutionary theory and systematic philosophical reasoning to explain the laws and processes of life.
-
A.
On the Study of Biology
"On the Study of Biology" is an essay by Thomas Henry Huxley that reflects on the nature, methods, and educational value of biological science.
-
B.
Essays of a Biologist
Essays of a Biologist is a collection of influential essays by evolutionary biologist Julian Huxley that explores biology’s implications for human society, philosophy, and the modern worldview.
-
C.
The Science of Life
The Science of Life is a landmark early 20th-century biology book co-authored by H.G. Wells, his son George Philip Wells, and Julian Huxley that presents modern biological science in an accessible, encyclopedic form.
-
D.
On the Physical Basis of Life
"On the Physical Basis of Life" is a seminal 19th-century essay by biologist Thomas Henry Huxley that argues for a materialistic, scientific explanation of life processes.
-
E.
Systematics and the Origin of Species
Systematics and the Origin of Species is a landmark 1942 book by evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr that helped establish the modern biological species concept and integrated systematics with evolutionary theory.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
biology treatise
ⓘ
book ⓘ scientific work ⓘ |
| aim |
to apply evolutionary theory to biology
ⓘ
to formulate general laws of life ⓘ |
| author | Herbert Spencer NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| completionYear | 1867 ⓘ |
| coreConcept |
adaptation of organisms to environment
ⓘ
correspondence between organism and environment ⓘ integration and differentiation in evolution ⓘ physiological units ⓘ survival of the fittest ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | United Kingdom ⓘ |
| discipline |
biology
ⓘ
philosophy of science ⓘ |
| firstPublicationYear | 1864 ⓘ |
| genre |
natural history
ⓘ
scientific philosophy ⓘ |
| hasPart |
Volume I: The Data of Biology
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Volume I: The Inductions of Biology NERFINISHED ⓘ Volume II: The Evolution of Life NERFINISHED ⓘ Volume II: The Laws of Multiplication NERFINISHED ⓘ Volume II: The Morphological Development of Organisms NERFINISHED ⓘ Volume II: The Physiological Development of Organisms NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| historicalPeriod | Victorian era ⓘ |
| influenced |
Herbert Spencer's later sociological works
ⓘ
late 19th-century biology ⓘ philosophy of evolution ⓘ social Darwinism ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
Auguste Comte
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Charles Darwin ⓘ Jean-Baptiste Lamarck NERFINISHED ⓘ Thomas Malthus NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
classification of organisms
ⓘ
evolution ⓘ laws of life ⓘ organic development ⓘ physiology ⓘ |
| notableTermCoined | survival of the fittest ⓘ |
| partOf | Spencer's Synthetic Philosophy NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| philosophicalApproach |
evolutionary philosophy
ⓘ
positivism ⓘ |
| publicationCentury | 19th century ⓘ |
| publisher | Williams and Norgate NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| structure | systematic exposition of biological principles ⓘ |
| theoreticalFramework | evolution by natural causes ⓘ |
| volumeCount | 2 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Principles of Biology Description of subject: The Principles of Biology is a foundational 19th-century work by Herbert Spencer that applies evolutionary theory and systematic philosophical reasoning to explain the laws and processes of life.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Principles of Biology