Herbert Spencer

1820-1903. English philosopher, sociologist and political theorist. Coined the term "survival of the fittest" (in his Principles of Biology, 1864) after reading Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species. His essay "The Physiology of Laughter" (1860), in which he claimed that laughter serves to discharge "nervous energy" (Carroll 38), can be seen as starting point for Relief Theories.

References: Carroll, Noel. Humour. A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.