Roger Scruton

Sir Roger Vernon Scruton (Engelse uitspraak: ˈ|s|k|r|uː|t|ən}}; gebore op 27 Februarie 1944; sterf op 12 Januarie 2020) was 'n Engelse konserwatiewe filosoof en skrywer wat gespesialiseer het in estetika en politiese filosofie, veral ter bevordering van tradisioneel-konserwatiewe beskouinge.

Hy was vanaf 1982 tot 2001 die redakteur van The Salisbury Review, te wete 'n konserwatiewe politiese joernaal. Scruton het meer as vyftig boeke oor filosofie, kuns, musiek, politiek, letterkunde, kultuur, seksualiteit, en godsdiens geskryf. Hy het ook romans en twee operas geskryf. Sy mees noemenswaardige publikasies sluit The Meaning of Conservatism (1980), Sexual Desire (1986), The Aesthetics of Music (1997), en How to Be a Conservative (2014) in. Hy was 'n gereelde bydraer tot die populêre media, insluitende The Times, The Spectator, en die New Statesman.

Scruton het konserwatisme omarm nadat hy getuie was tot die studente opstande in Mei 1968 in Frankryk. Hy was vanaf 1971 tot 1992 'n lektor en professor van estetika by die Universiteit van Londen se Birkbeck-kollege, waarna hy verskeie deeltydse akademiese poste beklee het, insluitende in die Verenigde State. In die 1980's het hy bygedra daartoe om die Jan Hus Opvoedkundige Stigting in die Sowjet-beheerde Oos-Europa op die been te bring, waarvoor hy die Tsjeggiese Republiek se Medalje van Verdienstelikheid (Eerste klas) in 1998 ontvang het, wat deur President Václav Havel toegeken is. Scruton is in 2016 tot ridder geslaan vir "dienste aan filosofie, onderwys en openbare opvoeding". Baie prysenswaardig is sy dokumentêre program Why Beauty Matters wat in 2009 op BBC Two uitgesend is. Hy was bekend om sy behoudende filosofiese gedagtes, sy andersdenkende houding, en sy strewe om linkse retoriek, en die idee dat ideologieë soos sosialisme die morele hoë grond betrek, uit te daag en 'n nekslag toe te dien. Sy behoudende gedagtes sal beslis voortleef.

Vroeë lewe

Familie agtergrond
Scruton is in Buslingthorpe, Lincolnshire, VK gebore as die seun van John "Jack" Scruton, 'n onderwyser van Manchester, en sy vrou Beryl Claris Scruton (née Haynes). Hy is saam met sy twee susters in Marlow, Buckinghamshire en High Wycombe grootgemaak. Die Scruton-van is eers redelik onlangs verkry. Die geboortesertifikaat van Scruton se oupa maak melding van Matthew Lowe, na aanleiding van sy oupa se moeder, Margaret Lowe (Scruton se oumagrootjie); die dokumente het egter geen melding gemaak van 'n vader nie. Margaret Lowe het egter om onbekende redes in pleks hiervan besluit om haar seun as Matthew Scruton groot te maak. Scruton het dikwels gewonder of sy werksaam was by die voormalige Scruton Hall in Scruton, Yorkshire, en of dit die plek is waar haar kind opgewek is.

Jack is grootgemaak in 'n muur-aan-muur huis in Upper Cyrus Str, Ancoats, te wete 'n binnestedelike area van Manchester, en het 'n beurs bekom om by Manchester High School, 'n privaatskool, (grammar school) te studeer. Scruton het sy moeder beskryf as "iemand wat 'n ideaal gekoester het van beskaafde manlike optrede en maatskaplike onderskeiding, welke ideaal  ... [sy] vader homself voorgeneem het om met aansienlike plesier te vernietig".

 I suddenly realised I was on the other side. What I saw was an unruly mob of self-indulgent middle-class hooligans. When I asked my friends what they wanted, what were they trying to achieve, all I got back was this ludicrous Marxist gobbledegook. I was disgusted by it, and thought there must be a way back to the defence of western civilization against these things. That's when I became a conservative. I knew I wanted to conserve things rather than pull them down.

Geselekteerde werk 

Nie-fiksie
 Art And Imagination: A Study in the Philosophy of Mind (1974)
 The Aesthetics of Architecture (1979)
 The Meaning of Conservatism (1980)
 The Politics of Culture and Other Essays (1981)
 A Short History of Modern Philosophy (1982)
 A Dictionary of Political Thought (1982)
 The Aesthetic Understanding: Essays in the Philosophy of Art and Culture (1983)
 Kant (1982)
 Untimely Tracts (1985)
 Thinkers of the New Left (1985)
 Sexual Desire: A Moral Philosophy of the Erotic (1986)
 Spinoza (1987)
 A Land Held Hostage: Lebanon and the West (1987)
 Conservative Thinkers: Essays from The Salisbury Review (1988)
 Conservative Thoughts: Essays from The Salisbury Review (1988)
 The Philosopher on Dover Beach: Essays (1990)
 Conservative Texts: An Anthology (red.) (1992)
 Modern Philosophy: An Introduction and Survey (1994)
 The Classical Vernacular: Architectural Principles in an Age of Nihilism (1995)
 An Intelligent Person's Guide to Philosophy (1996); heruitgegee as Philosophy: Principles and Problems (2005)
 The Aesthetics of Music (1997)
 On Hunting (1998)
 An Intelligent Person's Guide to Modern Culture (1998); heruitgegee as Modern Culture (2005)
 Spinoza (1998)
 Animal Rights and Wrongs (2000)
 England: An Elegy (2001)
 The West and the Rest: Globalisation and the Terrorist Threat (2002)
 Death-Devoted Heart: Sex and the Sacred in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde (Oxford University Press, 2004)
 News From Somewhere: On Settling (2004)
 The Need for Nations (2004)
 Gentle Regrets: Thoughts from a Life (Continuum, 2005)
 A Political Philosophy: Arguments for Conservatism (2006)
 Immigration, Multiculturalism and the Need to Defend the Nation State (2006)
 Culture Counts: Faith and Feeling in a World Besieged (Encounter Books, 2007)
 Beauty (2009)
 I Drink Therefore I Am: A Philosopher's Guide to Wine (2009)
 Understanding Music (2009)
 The Uses of Pessimism: And the Danger of False Hope (2010)
 Liberty and Civilization: The Western Heritage (2010)
 Green Philosophy: How to Think Seriously About the Planet (2011); hersien en heruitgegee as How to Think Seriously About the Planet: The Case for an Environmental Conservatism (2012)
 The Face of God: The Gifford Lectures (2012)
 Our Church: A Personal History of the Church of England (2012)
 The Soul of the World (2014)
 How to Be a Conservative (2014)
 Fools, Frauds and Firebrands: Thinkers of the New Left (2015)
 The Ring of Truth: The Wisdom of Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung (2016)
 Conversations with Roger Scruton (2016)
 Where We Are (2017)
 Confessions of a Heretic: Selected Essays (2017)
 On Human Nature (2017)
 Conservatism: An Invitation to the Great Tradition (2017)

Fiksie
 Fortnight's Anger: a novel (1981)
 Francesca: a novel (1991)
 A Dove Descending and Other Stories (1991)
 Xanthippic Dialogues (1993)
 Perictione in Colophon: Reflections of the Aesthetic Way of Life (2000)
 Notes from Underground (Scruton) (2014)
 The Disappeared (2015)
 Souls in the Twilight: Stories of Loss (2018)

Opera
 The Minister (1994).
 Violet (2005)

Televisie
 Why Beauty Matters (BBC Two, 2009)

Notas

Eksterne skakels 
 Why Beauty Matters, dokumentêre program op Youtube, oorspronklik in 2009 getoon op BBC 2

Verwysings

Verdere leeswerk

 Roger Scruton se webtuiste
 Roger Scruton se artikels by die The Spectator.
 Roger Scruton se artikels by The New Criterion.
 Roger Scruton se artikels  by Open Democracy
 Roger Scruton se artikels oor wyn. New Statesman, Oktober 2005 – Augustus 2009.
 The Salisbury Review
 The Gifford Lectures 2011–2012. Universiteit van Sint Andrews.
 The Stanton Lectures 2011–2012. Universiteit van Cambridge.
 

Artikels
 Billings, Joshua (11 Mei 2009). "A Joy Forever?". Oxonian Review (resensie van Scruton se Beauty).
 Kimball, Roger (17 Februarie 1991). "An Assault on Mush". The New York Times.
 Kimball, Roger (Junie 1994). "Saving the Appearances: Roger Scruton on Philosophy". The New Criterion.
 Scruton, Roger (22 Mei 1983). "The Case against Feminism". The Observer.
 Morrison, Blake (29 Mei 1983). "In Defence of Feminism". The Observer.
 Scruton, Roger (25 November 1990). "Her Virtue Was Thatcher's Downfall", Los Angeles Times.
 Scruton, Roger (17 Desember 2012). "The Great Swindle" . Aeon Magazine.
 

Geboortes in 1944
Sterftes in 2020
Filosowe
Skrywers