Roger Scruton

Roger Scruton was an English philosopher and writer, best known for his work in aesthetics and as a leading intellectual of British conservatism. He taught for two decades at Birkbeck College, London, and later at Boston University. His A Short History of Modern Philosophy (1981) is a widely used survey from Descartes to Wittgenstein. In books such as The Aesthetics of Music (1997) and Beauty (2009) he defended beauty as a real value, while The Meaning of Conservatism (1980) and How to Be a Conservative (2014) argued for tradition, nation and inherited institutions.

Key ideas

• Beauty is a real value that answers a deep human need, not merely a matter of personal preference.
• Music is heard as movement in an imagined space, so its meaning cannot be reduced to physical sound.
• Society is a partnership of the dead, the living and the unborn, so we hold inherited goods in trust.
• Political order rests on loyalty to a home and a nation rather than on an abstract social contract.
• 'Oikophobia', the rejection of one's own home and inheritance, marks much modern intellectual life.

Major works

• A Short History of Modern Philosophy (1981)
• The Meaning of Conservatism (1980)
• Sexual Desire (1986)
• The Aesthetics of Music (1997)
• Beauty (2009)
• How to Be a Conservative (2014)

In the Book corner

• A Short History of Modern Philosophy 1981; revised 1995 · Intermediate
  A compact history of Western philosophy from Descartes to Wittgenstein, first published in 1981 and substantially rewritten for its 1995 edition. Scruton's…

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