
Roger Scruton
In Memoriam, 1944-2020
Sir Roger Scruton was a Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a philosopher, writer, and public commentator widely known for his work on aesthetics and culture and for his defense of conservative political philosophy.
Sir Roger Scruton was a Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a philosopher, writer, and public commentator widely known for his work on aesthetics and culture and for his defense of conservative political philosophy.
Mr. Scruton was the author of more than forty books, ranging in subject matter from academic works on aesthetics, art, and music to popular accounts of conservatism, utopianism, and political philosophy to personal reflections on drinking wine and hunting.
A prolific essayist, Mr. Scruton regularly wrote columns and essays for such publications as The New Statesman, The American Spectator, The New Criterion, and The New Atlantis, where he was a contributing editor. He was also the editor of The Salisbury Review from its founding in 1982 until 2001.
In addition to his nonfiction, he wrote two novels and several short stories, and has composed two operas (The Minister and Violet).
Mr. Scruton taught philosophy and aesthetics at Princeton, Oxford, the University of St. Andrews, Boston University, and Birkbeck College. He was also a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a research fellow at the Institute for the Psychological Sciences. In 2011, Mr. Scruton delivered the Stanton Lectures at the Divinity School at the University of Cambridge. In 2010, he delivered the Gifford Lectures at St. Andrews. In 2009, he wrote and narrated an acclaimed hour-long BBC documentary, Why Beauty Matters.
Mr. Scruton was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (since 2003) and a fellow of the British Academy (since 2008). In 1998, he was awarded the Medal of Merit of the Czech Republic, one of that nation’s highest state honors, in recognition for his role in the “underground university” he had helped establish in Czechoslovakia in the last decade of communism. He received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Cambridge.
Why it’s So Much Harder to Think Like a Conservative
Roger Scruton
Conservatives must learn to better articulate their vision, which is concerned not with facile ideals, but with the survival of a way of life in all of its complexity.
Articles
The Guardian (UK) / September 10, 2014
Why Did British Police Ignore Pakistani Gangs Abusing 1,400 Rotherham Children? Political Correctness
Roger Scruton
The horrific revelation of widespread sexual abuse in Rotherham, England, is a disturbing example of the dangers of political correctness.
Articles
Forbes / August 30, 2014
The Culture Of Soft Power
Roger Scruton
The quiet diplomacy favored by the European elite is useless against tyrants and totalitarians without “hard power” to back it up.
Articles
Forbes / August 18, 2014
Renewing Culture
Roger Scruton
Festivals of art and literature in England, Virginia, and elsewhere greatly enrich the social and economic life of rural communities.
Articles
Forbes / July 23, 2014
Why Iraq Is A Write-Off
Roger Scruton
Because of the process by which the modern borders of countries like Iraq and Syria were established, it was only natural that they should enter into conflict with their neighbors and with the wider world.
Articles
Forbes / June 26, 2014
Human Rights: Nonsense On Stilts?
Roger Scruton
Increasingly absurd uses of the concept of “human rights” suggest that the idea has been cast loose from its philosophical moorings in service of increasing the power of the state.
Articles
Forbes / May 29, 2014
The Good of Government
Roger Scruton
Conservatives must offer a vision of a free society in which government exercises its authority while remaining accountable to its citizens.
Articles
First Things (June/July 2014 issue) / May 21, 2014
Is Europe Still Defensible from Invasion?
Roger Scruton
The deleterious effects of the EU, and a dwindling American commitment to the Western alliance, mean that European countries increasingly vulnerable.
Articles
Forbes / May 4, 2014
The New Politics Of Climate Change: No Space For Deniers
Roger Scruton
The new orthodoxy on climate science often masks ideological censorship as scientific proof.
Articles
Forbes / April 8, 2014
A Triumph for the Boston Bombers
Roger Scruton
The withdrawal of Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s honorary degree is an affront to intellectual freedom and Western civilization.
Articles
Forbes / April 18, 2014