Violet (opera)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
(Difference between revisions)
| Revision as of 22:44, 16 January 2020 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) ← Previous diff |
Revision as of 22:45, 16 January 2020 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) Next diff → |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| {{Template}} | {{Template}} | ||
| - | + | [[baritone]]]]'''''Violet''''' is a 2005 [[opera]] by [[Roger Scruton]] to a [[libretto]] by the composer, based on the biography of [[Violet Gordon-Woodhouse]] by her great-niece, Jessica Douglas-Home. The composer has said that "it tells the remarkable story of this woman who lived with four men – it was a story about the history of music, the history of England, about sex, and the difference between the old culture of sex and the new one, and how it all came together in the life of this peculiar woman". | |
| - | + | ||
| - | * ''[[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) | + | |
| - | * ''Confessions of a Heretic: Selected Essays'' (2017) | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | '''Fiction''' | + | |
| - | * ''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 novel)|Notes from Underground]]'' (2014) | + | |
| - | * ''[[The Disappeared (novel)|The Disappeared]]'' (2015) | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | '''Opera''' | + | |
| - | * ''The Minister'' (1994). | + | |
| - | * ''[[Violet (opera)|Violet]]'' (2005) | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | '''Television''' | + | |
| - | * ''[[Why Beauty Matters]]'' (BBC Two, 2009) | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | {{GFDL}} | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | + | ||
| - | + | ||
| - | {{short description|English philosopher}} | + | |
| - | {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}} | + | |
| - | {{Use British English|date=November 2013}} | + | |
| - | {{Infobox person | + | |
| - | | name = Roger Scruton | + | |
| - | | honorific_prefix = [[Sir]] | + | |
| - | | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FBA|FRSL}} | + | |
| - | | image = Roger Scruton by Pete Helme.jpg | + | |
| - | | alt = | + | |
| - | | birth_name = Roger Vernon Scruton | + | |
| - | | birth_date = {{birth date |df=yes|1944|02|27}} | + | |
| - | | birth_place = [[Buslingthorpe, Lincolnshire|Buslingthorpe]], [[Lincolnshire]], England | + | |
| - | | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2020|01|12|1944|02|27}} | + | |
| - | | death_place = [[Brinkworth, Wiltshire|Brinkworth]], [[Wiltshire]], England<ref>https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/article/2020/01/15/le-philosophe-britannique-roger-scruton-figure-de-la-pensee-conservatrice-est-mort_6025973_3382.html.</ref> | + | |
| - | | alma_mater = MA (philosophy, 1962–1965),{{efn |Scruton's BA was incepted as an [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge) |MA]] in 1967.{{cn|date=January 2020}}}} PhD (aesthetics, 1967–1972), [[Jesus College, Cambridge]] | + | |
| - | | occupation = Philosopher, writer | + | |
| - | | known_for = [[Traditionalist conservatism]] | + | |
| - | | notable_works = ''The Meaning of Conservatism'' (1980); ''[[Sexual Desire (book)|Sexual Desire]]'' (1986); ''The Aesthetics of Music'' (1997); ''[[How to Be a Conservative]]'' (2014) | + | |
| - | | television = ''[[Why Beauty Matters]]'' ([[BBC Two]], 2009) | + | |
| - | | spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Danielle Laffitte|1973|1979|end=div}}|{{marriage|Sophie Jeffreys|1996}}}} | + | |
| - | | children = 2 | + | |
| - | | awards = {{plainlist| | + | |
| - | *[[Medal of Merit (Czech Republic)|Medal of Merit]] (First Class) of the Czech Republic, 1998 | + | |
| - | *[[Knight Bachelor]], United Kingdom, 2016 | + | |
| - | *[[Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland]], 2019 | + | |
| - | *Commander's Cross with Star of the [[Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary]], 2019}} | + | |
| - | | website = [http://www.roger-scruton.com/ roger-scruton.com] | + | |
| - | | module = <center>{{Listen|embed= yes|filename= Roger Scruton BBC Radio4 A Point of View 11 Aug 2013 b037vb15.flac |title= Roger Scruton speaking |type= speech |description= from the [[BBC Radio 4]] programme ''A Point of View'', 11 August 2013.<ref>{{Cite episode |title= Roger Scruton: Of the People, By the People 1/4 |series= A Point of View |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b037vb15 |station= BBC Radio 4 |date= 11 August 2013 |accessdate= 27 February 2014 }}</ref>}}</center> | + | |
| - | | module2 = {{Infobox philosopher | + | |
| - | | embed = yes | + | |
| - | | region = [[Western philosophy]] | + | |
| - | | era = {{nowrap|[[20th-century philosophy|20th-]]/[[21st-century philosophy]]}} | + | |
| - | | main_interests = [[Aesthetics]], [[political philosophy]], [[ethics]] | + | |
| - | | influences = [[René Girard]], [[Edmund Burke]], [[Immanuel Kant]], [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]], [[John Ruskin]], [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]], [[Michael Oakeshott]], [[G. E. M. Anscombe]], [[Jean-Paul Sartre]] | + | |
| - | | notable_ideas = | + | |
| - | }} | + | |
| - | }} | + | |
| - | '''Sir Roger Vernon Scruton''' {{post-nominals|country= GBR|FBA|FRSL}} ({{IPAc-en |ˈ|s|k|r|uː|t|ən}}; 27 February 1944{{spaced ndash}}12 January 2020) was an English [[philosopher]] and writer who specialised in [[aesthetics]] and [[political philosophy]], particularly in the furtherance of [[Traditionalist conservatism |traditionalist conservative]] views.<ref name=Cowling1990pxxix>{{cite book |last1=Cowling |first1=Maurice |title=Mill and Liberalism |date=1990 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|at=[https://books.google.com/books?id=k_RjyJSr_z0C&pg=PR29 xxix]|ref=harv}}</ref><ref name=Garnett2013pp113-115>{{cite book |last1=Garnett |first1=Mark |last2=Hickson |first2=Kevin |title=Conservative thinkers: The key contributors to the political thought of the modern Conservative Party |date=2013 |publisher=Manchester University Press|location=Manchester and New York|at=113–115|ref=harv}}</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Editor from 1982 to 2001 of ''[[The Salisbury Review]]'', a conservative political journal, Scruton wrote over 50 books on philosophy, art, music, politics, literature, culture, sexuality, and religion; he also wrote novels and two operas. His most notable publications include ''The Meaning of Conservatism'' (1980), ''[[Sexual Desire (book)|Sexual Desire]]'' (1986), ''The Aesthetics of Music'' (1997), and ''[[How to Be a Conservative]]'' (2014).<ref>See [[Roger Scruton bibliography]].</ref> He was a regular contributor to the popular media, including ''[[The Times]]'', ''[[The Spectator]]'', and the ''[[New Statesman]]''. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Scruton embraced conservatism after witnessing the [[May 1968 events in France|May 1968 student protests]] in France. From 1971 to 1992 he was a lecturer and professor of aesthetics at [[Birkbeck, University of London|Birkbeck College]], London, after which he held several part-time academic positions, including in the United States.<ref name= cv /> In the 1980s he helped to establish [[Jan Hus Educational Foundation |underground academic networks]] in Soviet-controlled [[Eastern Europe]], for which he was awarded the [[Czech Republic]]'s [[Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) |Medal of Merit]] (First Class) by President [[Václav Havel]] in 1998.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Day |first1= Barbara |title= The Velvet Philosophers |date=1999 |publisher=The Claridge Press|location=London | at=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jJNYvDr8YBgC&pg=PA281 281–282]|ref=harv}}</ref> Scruton was [[Knight Bachelor |knighted]] in the [[2016 Birthday Honours]] for "services to philosophy, teaching and public education".<ref name=LondonGazette /> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ==Early life== | + | |
| - | ===Family background=== | + | |
| - | Scruton was born in [[Buslingthorpe, Lincolnshire]],<ref>Cumming, Naomi (January 2001). [http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.50522 "Scruton, Roger"]. ''Grove Music Online''.</ref> to John "Jack" Scruton, a teacher from Manchester, and his wife, Beryl Claris Scruton (née Haynes), and was raised with his two sisters in [[Marlow, Buckinghamshire|Marlow]] and [[High Wycombe]].<ref name=Wroe28Oct2000/> The Scruton surname had been acquired relatively recently. Jack's father's birth certificate showed him as Matthew Lowe, after Matthew's mother, Margaret Lowe (Scruton's great grandmother); the document made no mention of a father. However, Margaret Lowe had decided, for reasons unknown, to raise her son as Matthew Scruton instead. Scruton wondered whether she had been employed at the former Scruton Hall in [[Scruton]], Yorkshire, and whether that was where her child had been conceived.<ref>Scruton, Roger (2001). ''England: An Elegy''. London: Pimlico, 139–140.</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Jack was raised in a [[Back-to-back house|back-to-back]] on Upper Cyrus Street, [[Ancoats]], an inner-city area of Manchester, and won a scholarship to Manchester High School,<!--no indication as to which school this is--> a [[grammar school]].<ref>''England: An Elegy'', 141.</ref> Scruton told ''[[The Guardian]]'' that Jack hated the upper classes and loved the countryside, while Beryl entertained "blue-rinsed friends" and was fond of romantic fiction.<ref name=Wroe28Oct2000>Wroe, Nicholas (28 October 2000). [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/oct/28/politics "Thinking for England"]. ''The Guardian''.</ref> He described his mother as "cherishing an ideal of gentlemanly conduct and social distinction that ... [his] father set out with considerable relish to destroy".<ref>Scruton, Roger (2005). ''Gentle Regrets: Thoughts From a Life''. London: Continuum, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgtnHZE_6lwC&pg=PA51&lpg=PA11 11].</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ===Education=== | + | |
| - | {{multiple image | direction = vertical | width = 220 <!--thumb--> | + | |
| - | | image1 = Jesus College, Cambridge - geograph.org.uk - 1062931.jpg | + | |
| - | | caption1 = Scruton studied at [[Jesus College, Cambridge]] (1962–1965 and 1967–1969). | + | |
| - | | image2 = Cambridge Peterhouse OldCourt.JPG | + | |
| - | | caption2 = He was a research fellow at [[Peterhouse, Cambridge]] (1969–1971). | + | |
| - | }} | + | |
| - | The Scrutons lived in a [[pebbledashed]] semi-detached house in Hammersley Lane, [[High Wycombe]].<ref name=Wroe28Oct2000/><ref name=Gentlep89>''Gentle Regrets'', 89.</ref> Although his parents had been brought up as Christians, they regarded themselves as humanists, so home was a "religion-free zone".<ref>Scruton, Roger (March 2009). [https://web.archive.org/web/20110225210343/http://spectator.org/archives/2009/03/10/the-new-humanism "The New Humanism"]. ''American Spectator''.</ref> Scruton's, indeed the whole family's, relationship with his father was difficult. He wrote in ''Gentle Regrets'' (2005): "Friends come and go, hobbies and holidays dabble the soulscape like fleeting sunlight in a summer wind, and the hunger for affection is cut off at every point by the fear of judgement."<ref>''Gentle Regrets'', 94.</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | After passing his [[Eleven-plus|11-plus]], he attended the [[Royal Grammar School High Wycombe]] from 1954 to 1962,<ref name=about/><ref>''England: An Elegy'', 25.</ref> leaving with three [[GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)|A-levels]], in pure and applied mathematics, physics, and chemistry. The results won him an open scholarship in natural sciences to [[Jesus College, Cambridge]].<ref>[http://www.rgs.saund.co.uk/pdfs/1962-09-wycombiensian.pdf "Examination successes, 1961–62"], ''Wycombiensian'', 13(6), September 1962, 328–330.</ref> Scruton writes that he was expelled from the school shortly afterwards, when the headmaster found the school stage on fire during one of Scruton's plays, and a half-naked girl putting out the flames.<ref name=Wroe28Oct2000/><ref name="Gentlep34">''Gentle Regrets'', 34.</ref> (However, the headmaster is said to have delayed Scruton's expusion until the latter had won his scholarship to Oxford, as the school recognised that the pupil's achievements were "good for the statistics").<ref> TMS in "The Times" 14 Jan 2020.</ref> When he told his family he had won a place at Cambridge, his father stopped speaking to him.<ref name=Edemariam5June2010>Edemariam, Aida (5 June 2010). [https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/jun/05/roger-scruton-interview "Roger Scruton: A pessimist's guide to life"]. ''The Guardian''.</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Having intended to study [[Natural Sciences (Cambridge)|natural sciences at Cambridge]] (where he felt spiritually at home, although socially estranged "like virtually every grammar-school boy"),<ref name="Gentlep34"/> Scruton switched on the first day to moral sciences (philosophy).<ref name=Wroe28Oct2000/> He graduated with a double [[British_undergraduate_degree_classification#First-class_honours|first]] in 1965,<ref name=cv/> then spent time overseas, some of it teaching at the [[University of Pau and Pays de l'Adour]] in [[Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques|Pau]], France, where he met his first wife, Danielle Laffitte.<ref name=SDpp1835>{{cite book |last1=Scruton |first1=Roger |last2=Dooley |first2=Mark |title=Conversations with Roger Scruton |date=2016 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |location=London and New York |at=18, 35 |ref=harv}}</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | In 1967 he began studying for his PhD at Jesus, then became a research fellow at [[Peterhouse, Cambridge]] (1969–1971), where he lived with Laffitte when she was not in France.<ref name=SDpp1835/> It was while visiting her during the [[May 1968 in France|May 1968 student protests]] in France that Scruton first embraced [[conservatism]]. He was in the [[Latin Quarter in Paris]], watching students overturn cars, smash windows and tear up cobblestones, and for the first time in his life "felt a surge of political anger":<ref>''Gentle Regrets'', 37.</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | <blockquote> 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.<ref name=Wroe28Oct2000/></blockquote> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ==1970s–1980s== | + | |
| - | ===Birkbeck, first marriage=== | + | |
| - | [[File:Birkbeck College phototram.jpg|thumb|left|Scruton taught at [[Birkbeck College|Birkbeck]] for 21 years.]] | + | |
| - | Cambridge awarded Scruton his PhD in January 1973 for a thesis entitled "Art and imagination, a study in the philosophy of mind", supervised by Michael Tanner and [[Elizabeth Anscombe]], in which he offered an empiricist theory of aesthetics.<ref>Scruton, Roger (1973). [https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/244964 "Art and imagination, a study in the philosophy of mind"] (doctoral thesis). Apollo, University of Cambridge repository. {{doi|10.17863/CAM.15915}}</ref> The thesis was the basis of his first book, ''Art and Imagination'' (1974), which was followed by ''The Aesthetics of Architecture'' (1979). From 1971 he taught philosophy at [[Birkbeck College]], London, which specializes in adult education and holds its classes in the evening.<ref name=Gentlep39/> Working at Birkbeck left Scruton's days free, so he used the time to study law at the [[Inns of Court School of Law]] (1974–1976) and was [[Call to the bar|called to the Bar]] in 1978; he never practised because he was unable to take a year off work to complete a [[pupillage]].<ref name=about>{{cite web |last1=Scruton |first1=Roger |title=About |url=http://www.roger-scruton.com/rs-cv.html |website=roger-scruton.com|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100831023120/http://www.roger-scruton.com/rs-cv.html |archivedate=31 August 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>''Gentle Regrets'', 57; {{harvnb|Scruton|Dooley|2016|loc=39}}.</ref> Meanwhile Laffitte taught French at [[Putney High School]], and the couple lived together in a [[Harley Street]] apartment previously occupied by [[Delia Smith]].{{sfn|Scruton|Dooley|2016|loc=41}} They married in 1973 and divorced in 1979.<ref name=Wroe28Oct2000/> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Scruton said he was the only conservative at Birkbeck, except for the woman who served meals in the [[Senior Common Room]].<ref name=Gentlep39>''Gentle Regrets'', 39.</ref> In 1974, along with [[Hugh Fraser (British politician)|Hugh Fraser]], [[Jonathan Aitken]] and [[John Casey (academic)|John Casey]], he became a founding member of the [[Conservative Philosophy Group]] dining club, which aimed to develop an intellectual basis for conservatism.<ref>''Gentle Regrets'', 45; {{harvnb|Scruton|Dooley|2016|loc=46–47}}.</ref> The historian [[Hugh Thomas, Baron Thomas of Swynnerton|Hugh Thomas]] and the philosopher [[Anthony Quinton]] attended meetings, as did [[Margaret Thatcher]] before she became prime minister. She reportedly said during one meeting in 1975: "The other side have got an ideology they can test their policies against. We must have one as well."<ref>Young, Hugo (2013). ''One of Us''. London: Pan Macmillan, 221.</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Scruton's academic career at Birkbeck was blighted by his conservatism, particularly by his third book, ''The Meaning of Conservatism'' (1980),<ref>Scruton, Roger (1980). ''The Meaning of Conservatism''. London: The Macmillan Press.</ref><ref name=Goss2006>Goss, Maxwell (January 2006). [http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles6/ScrutonConservative.php "The Joy of Conservatism: An Interview with Roger Scruton"]. ''New Pantagruel'' (courtesy of orthodoxytoday.org).</ref> and later by his editorship of the conservative ''Salisbury Review''.<ref>''Gentle Regrets'', 51; {{harvnb|Scruton|Dooley|2016|loc=46}}.</ref> He told ''The Guardian'' that his colleagues at Birkbeck vilified him over the book.<ref name=Edemariam5June2010/> The Marxist philosopher [[G. A. Cohen]] of [[University College London]] reportedly refused to teach a seminar with Scruton, although they later became friends.<ref name=SDp46>{{harvnb|Scruton|Dooley|2016|loc=46}}.</ref> He continued teaching at Birkbeck until 1992, first as a lecturer, by 1980 as [[Reader (academic rank)|reader]], then as professor of aesthetics.{{sfn|Scruton|Dooley|2016|loc=39}} | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ===''The Salisbury Review''=== | + | |
| - | [[File:Roger Scruton (2015), Prague.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Scruton in Prague, 2015]] | + | |
| - | In 1982 Scruton became founding editor of ''[[The Salisbury Review]]'', a journal championing traditional conservatism in opposition to [[Thatcherism]], which he edited until 2001.<ref name=ScrutonSept212002/><ref>Scruton, Roger (1988). ''Conservative Thoughts: Essays from the Salisbury Review''. London: The Claridge Press.</ref> The ''Review'' was set up by a group of Tories known as the Salisbury Group—founded in 1978 by Diana Spearman and [[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 6th Marquess of Salisbury|Robert Gascoyne-Cecil]]<ref name=Cowling1990pxxix/>—with the involvement of the [[Peterhouse school of history|Peterhouse Right]]. The latter were conservatives associated with the Cambridge college, including [[Maurice Cowling]], [[David Watkin (historian)|David Watkin]] and the mathematician Adrian Mathias.<ref name=Wroe28Oct2000/><ref>For the Peterhouse Right (he calls it the Peterhouse Group) and ''The Salisbury Review'', see Haseler, Stephen (1989). ''The battle for Britain: Thatcher and the New Liberals''. London: I.B. Tauris, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_vPwkkJUA6IC&pg=PA138 138]; ''Gentle Regrets'', 51.</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Scruton wrote that editing ''The Salisbury Review'' effectively ended his academic career in the United Kingdom. The magazine sought to provide an intellectual basis for conservatism, and was highly critical of key issues of the period, including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, egalitarianism, feminism, foreign aid, multiculturalism and modernism. To begin with, Scruton had to write most of the articles himself, using pseudonyms: "I had to make it look as though there was something there in order that ''there should be something there!''"{{sfn|Scruton|Dooley|2016|loc=47}} He believes that the ''Review'' "helped a new generation of conservative intellectuals to emerge. At last it was possible to be a conservative and also to the ''left'' of something, to say 'Of course, the ''Salisbury Review'' is beyond the pale; but ...'"<ref name=Gentlep59>''Gentle Regrets'', 59.</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | In 1984 the ''Review'' published a controversial article by [[Ray Honeyford]], a headmaster in Bradford, questioning the benefits of multicultural education.<ref>Honeyford, Ray (27 August 2006). [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3654888/Education-and-Race-an-Alternative-View.html "Education and Race—an Alternative View"], ''The Daily Telegraph'' (reprint of Honeyford's 1984 article).</ref><ref>Scruton, Roger (5 July 2014). [http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9252471/the-bradford-head-teacher-who-got-it-right-on-islam-and-education/ "Let's face it – Ray Honeyford got it right on Islam and education"], ''The Spectator''.</ref> Honeyford was forced to retire because of the article and had to live for a time under police protection.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9069943/Ray-Honeyford.html "Ray Honeyford"], ''The Daily Telegraph'', 8 February 2012.{{pb}} | + | |
| - | For background on the Honeyford controversy, see Miller, Kathryn (26 August 2006). [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1527371/Headteacher-who-never-taught-again-after-daring-to-criticise-multiculturalism.html "Headteacher who never taught again after daring to criticise multiculturalism"], ''The Daily Telegraph''.{{pb}} | + | |
| - | Halstead, Mark (1988). ''Education, Justice, and Cultural Diversity: An Examination of the Honeyford Affair, 1984–85''. Barcombe: Falmer Press.</ref> The [[British Association for the Advancement of Science]] accused the ''Review'' of [[scientific racism]], and the [[University of Glasgow]] philosophy department boycotted a talk Scruton had been invited to deliver to its philosophy society. Scruton believed that the incidents made his position as a university professor untenable, although he also maintained that "it was worth sacrificing your chances of becoming a fellow of the [[British Academy]], a vice-chancellor or an emeritus professor for the sheer relief of uttering the truth."<ref name=ScrutonSept212002/><ref>''Gentle Regrets'', 77.</ref> (Scruton was in fact elected a [[fellow of the British Academy]] in 2008.)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britac.ac.uk/fellowship/elections/2008/index.cfm |title=Elections to the Fellowship 2008|publisher=British Academy|url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120930183439/http://www.britac.ac.uk/fellowship/elections/2008/index.cfm |archivedate=30 September 2012}}</ref> In 2002 he described the effect of the editorship on his life: | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | <blockquote> It cost me many thousand hours of unpaid labour, a hideous character assassination in ''[[Private Eye]]'', three lawsuits, two interrogations, one expulsion, the loss of a university career in Britain, unendingly contemptuous reviews, Tory suspicion, and the hatred of decent liberals everywhere. And it was worth it.<ref name=ScrutonSept212002>{{cite news |last1=Scruton |first1=Roger |title=My life beyond the pale |url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/comic/my-life-beyond-the-pale/ |work=The Spectator |date=21 September 2002 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220104340/http://www.spectator.co.uk/comic/my-life-beyond-the-pale/ |archivedate=20 December 2016|url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ===Writing=== | + | |
| - | The 1980s established Scruton as a prolific writer. Thirteen of his non-fiction works appeared between 1980 and 1989, as did first novel, ''Fortnight's Anger'' (1981). The most contentious publication was ''[[Thinkers of the New Left]]'' (1985), a collection of his essays from ''The Salisbury Review'', which criticized 14 prominent intellectuals, including [[E. P. Thompson]], [[Michel Foucault]] and [[Jean-Paul Sartre]].{{efn|The subjects of ''[[Thinkers of the New Left]]'' are [[E. P. Thompson]], [[Ronald Dworkin]], [[Michel Foucault]], [[R. D. Laing]], [[Raymond Williams]], [[Rudolf Bahro]], [[Antonio Gramsci]], [[Louis Althusser]], [[Immanuel Wallerstein]], [[Jürgen Habermas]], [[Perry Anderson]], [[György Lukács]], [[John Kenneth Galbraith]] and [[Jean-Paul Sartre]].}} According to ''The Guardian'', the book was [[Remaindered book|remaindered]] after being greeted with "derision and outrage". Scruton said he became very depressed by the criticism.<ref name=Adams2015>Adams, Tim. [https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/oct/04/roger-scruton-my-father-looked-like-jeremy-corbyn-fools-frauds-firebrands-interview "Roger Scruton: 'Funnily enough, my father looked very like Jeremy Corbyn'"], ''The Guardian'', 4 October 2015.</ref> In 1987 he founded his own publisher, The Claridge Press, which he sold to the [[Continuum International Publishing Group]] in 2002.{{efn|"The Continuum International Publishing Group is delighted to announce the acquisition of the small, independent publishing house Claridge Press from its proprietor, the philosopher, Professor Roger Scruton."<ref>"The Claridge Press and Continuum", ''The Salisbury Review'', 21–22, 2002, 56.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090709070236/http://www.aei.org/scholar/100052 "Roger Scruton"], American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 9 July 2009.</ref>}} | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | From 1983 to 1986 he wrote a weekly column for ''The Times''. Topics included music, wine and motorbike repair, but others were contentious. The features editor, [[Peter Stothard]], said that there was no one he had ever commissioned "whose articles had provoked more rage".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Stothard |first1=Peter |title=Michael Jackson, man of 'the stagnant crowd', and two other men |url=http://timescolumns.typepad.com/stothard/2009/06/michael-jackson-man-of-the-stagnant-crowd-and-two-other-men.html |work=The Times |date=29 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090715184605/http://timescolumns.typepad.com/stothard/2009/06/michael-jackson-man-of-the-stagnant-crowd-and-two-other-men.html|archive-date=15 July 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> Scruton made fun of anti-racism and the peace movement, and his support for [[Margaret Thatcher]] while she was prime minister was regarded, he wrote, as an "act of betrayal for a university teacher". His first column, "The Virtue of Irrelevance", argued that universities were destroying education "by making it relevant": "Replace pure by applied mathematics, logic by computer programming, architecture by engineering, history by sociology: the result will be a new generation of well-informed philistines, whose charmlessness will undo every advantage which their learning might otherwise have conferred."<ref name=ScrutonDooley2016p50>{{harvnb|Scruton|Dooley|2016|loc=50–52}}.</ref> Scruton also seemed to call for a resumption of covert [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] funding, deploring in 1985 that "the CIA is now utterly intimidated, refusing to engage even in its most honorable occupation—the support of those publications which tell the truth about the modern world."<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Liberal Conspiracy|last=Coleman|first=Peter|publisher=The Free Press|year=1989|isbn=|location=New York|at=247}}</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ===Activism in Central Europe=== | + | |
| - | [[File:Roger Scruton, Budapest, September 2016 (2).jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.85|Scruton on "Europe and the Conservative Cause", Budapest, September 2016]] | + | |
| - | From 1979 to 1989, Scruton was an active supporter of [[dissident]]s in [[Czechoslovakia]] under [[Communist Party of Czechoslovakia|Communist Party]] rule, forging links between the country's dissident academics and their counterparts in Western universities. As part of the [[Jan Hus Educational Foundation]],{{sfn|Day|1999|loc=124ff}} he and other academics visited [[Prague]] and [[Brno]], now in the [[Czech Republic]], in support of an underground education network started by the Czech dissident [[Julius Tomin]], smuggling in books, organizing lectures, and eventually arranging for students to study for a Cambridge external degree in theology (the only faculty that responded to the request for help). There were structured courses and ''[[samizdat]]'' translations, books were printed, and people sat exams in a cellar with papers smuggled out through the diplomatic bag.<ref>Vaughan, David (31 October 2010). [http://www.radio.cz/en/section/books/roger-scruton-and-a-special-relationship "Roger Scruton and a special relationship"], Radio Prague.</ref><ref>Hanley, Seán (2008). ''The New Right in the New Europe: Czech Transformation and Right-wing politics, 1989–2006''. London: Routledge, [https://books.google.com/books?id=fKEJDo2smdQC&pg=PA47 47].</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Scruton was detained in 1985 in Brno before being expelled from the country. The Czech dissident [[:cs:Bronislava Müllerová|Bronislava Müllerová]] watched him walk across the border with Austria: "There was this broad empty space between the two border posts, absolutely empty, not a single human being in sight except for one soldier, and across that broad empty space trudged an English philosopher, Roger Scruton, with his little bag into Austria."{{sfn|Day|1999|loc=255}} On 17 June that year, he was placed on the Index of Undesirable Persons. He wrote that he had also been followed during visits to Poland and Hungary.<ref name=Day1999p281/> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | For his work in supporting dissidents, Scruton was awarded the First of June Prize in 1993 by the Czech city of [[Plzeň]], and in 1998 he was awarded the Czech Republic's [[Medal of Merit (Czech Republic)|Medal of Merit]] (First Class) by President [[Václav Havel]].<ref name=Day1999p281>{{harvnb|Day|1999|loc=281–282}}; ''Gentle Regrets'', 142.</ref> In 2019 the Polish government awarded him the [[Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Poland Bestows Honor on Philosopher Fired by British Govt |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2019-06-04/poland-bestows-honor-on-british-philosopher |work=U.S. News & World Report |agency=Associated Press |date=4 June 2019}}</ref> Scruton was strongly critical of figures in the West—in particular [[Eric Hobsbawm]]—who "chose to exonerate" the crimes and atrocities of former communist regimes.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Scruton|first1=Roger|url=http://articles.latimes.com/1991-09-05/local/me-2147_1_communist-party |title=The Day of Reckoning for the Apologists: Western collaborators with Soviet communism must be held accountable |work=Los Angeles Times|date=18 February 1987}}</ref> His experience of dissident intellectual life in 1980s Communist Prague is recorded in fictional form in his novel ''[[Notes from Underground (Scruton novel)|Notes from Underground]]'' (2014).<ref name=Derbyshire12Sept2014>{{cite news |last1=Derbyshire |first1=Jonathan |title=How to be a conservative: a conversation with Roger Scruton |url=https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/blogs/jonathan-derbyshire/how-to-be-a-conservative-a-conversation-with-roger-scruton |work=Prospect |date=12 September 2014}}</ref> He wrote in 2019 that "despite the appeal of the Poles, Hungarians, Romanians and many more, it is the shy, cynical Czechs to whom I lost my heart and from whom I have never retrieved it".<ref name=Scruton21Dec2019/> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ==1990s–2000s== | + | |
| - | ===Farm purchase, second marriage=== | + | |
| - | [[File:Albany Courtyard.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|Scruton rented an apartment in the [[Albany (London)|Albany]]; the rooms had previously been [[Alan Clark]]'s [[servants' quarters]].]] | + | |
| - | Scruton took a year's [[sabbatical]] from Birkbeck in 1990 and spent it working in Brno in the Czech Republic.<ref name=SDp109>{{harvnb|Scruton|Dooley|2016|loc=109–112}}.</ref> That year he registered Central European Consulting, established to offer business advice in post-communist [[Central Europe]].<ref name=companyinterests>{{cite web |last1=Scruton |first1=Roger |title=Company interests |url=http://www.roger-scruton.com/rs-business.html|website=roger-scruton.com |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100902062543/http://www.roger-scruton.com/rs-business.html |archivedate=2 September 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> He had been living in an apartment in [[Notting Hill Gate]], which he sold, and when he returned to England rented a cottage in [[Stanton Fitzwarren]], Swindon, from [[the Moonies]], and an apartment in the [[Albany (London)|Albany]] building on [[Piccadilly]], London, from [[Alan Clark]] (it had been Clark's [[servants' quarters]]).<ref name=Wroe28Oct2000/><ref name=SDp109/> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | From 1992 to 1995 he lived in [[Boston, Massachusetts]], US teaching an elementary philosophy course and a graduate course on the [[philosophy of music]] for one semester a year, as professor of philosophy at [[Boston University]]. Two of his books grew out of these courses: ''Modern Philosophy: An Introduction and Survey'' (1994) and ''The Aesthetics of Music'' (1997). In 1993 he bought Sundey Hill Farm in [[Brinkworth, Wiltshire|Brinkworth]], [[Wiltshire]]—{{convert|35|acre}}, later increased to {{convert|100|acre}}, and a 250-year-old farmhouse—where he lived after returning from the United States.{{sfn|Scruton|Dooley|2016}}<!--add page number--><ref name=Adams2015/><ref name=Ross1998>Ross, Deborah (13 December 1998). [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/interview-roger-scruton-philosopher-musician-author-scourge-of-the-left-so-where-does-he-keep-his-1191298.html "Interview: Roger Scruton"]. ''The Independent''.</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | While in Boston, Scruton had flown back to England every weekend to indulge his passion for [[fox hunting]],<ref>''On Hunting'', 1998; {{harvnb|Scruton|Dooley|2016|loc=116}}.</ref> and it was during a meet of the [[Duke of Beaufort's Hunt|Beaufort Hunt]] that he met Sophie Jeffreys, an architectural historian. They married in 1996 and set up home on Sundey Hill Farm.<ref>''Gentle Regrets'', 106.</ref><ref name=Wroe28Oct2000/> Their two children were born in 1998 and 2000.<ref name=about/> Scruton set up Horsells Farm Enterprises Ltd in 1999, a PR firm that included [[Japan Tobacco International]] and [[Somerfield Stores]] as clients.<ref name=companyinterests/><ref name=AboutHorsells>{{cite web |title=About us |url=http://horsellsfarment.com/about-us.html |publisher=Horsells Farm Enterprises |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608090628/https://horsellsfarment.com/about-us.html |archivedate=8 June 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> He and his publisher were successfully sued for libel that year by the [[Pet Shop Boys]] for suggesting that their songs were in large part the work of sound engineers; the group settled for undisclosed damages.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/573718.stm "Libel damages for Pet Shop Boys"], BBC News, 21 December 1999.</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ===Tobacco company funding=== | + | |
| - | Scruton was criticized in 2002 for having written articles about [[smoking]] without disclosing that he was receiving a regular fee from [[Japan Tobacco International]] (JTI, formerly [[R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company|R. J. Reynolds]]).<ref name=Gilmore2004/> In 1999 he and his wife—as part of their consultancy work for Horshells Farm Enterprises<ref name=companyinterests/><ref name=Scruton28Jan2002/>—began producing a quarterly briefing paper, ''The Risk of Freedom Briefing'' (1999–2007), about the state's control of risk.<ref name=riskoffreedom>{{cite web |title=The Risk of Freedom briefing, April 2000–July 2007 |url=http://www.riskoffreedom.com/archive.php|website=riskoffreedom.com|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120114207/http://www.riskoffreedom.com/archive.php |archivedate=20 November 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> Distributed to journalists, the paper included discussions about drugs, alcohol and tobacco, and was sponsored by JTI.<ref name=Scruton28Jan2002/><ref name=ScrutonDooley2016p141>{{harvnb|Scruton|Dooley|2016|loc=140–143}}.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Scruton |first=Roger |date= 16 February 2002|title=Smoke Without Fire |url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/16th-february-2002/24/smoke-without-fire |magazine=The Spectator|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714222556/http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/16th-february-2002/24/smoke-without-fire|archivedate=14 July 2019|url-status=live}} </ref> Scruton wrote several articles in defence of smoking around this time, including one in 1998 for ''The Times'',<ref>Scruton, Roger (19 October 1998). "A Snort of Derision at Society". ''The Times''; Giles, Jim (16 February 2008). "Anti-smoking academics 'funded by tobacco firms'". ''New Scientist'', 197(2643), 11. {{doi|10.1016/S0262-4079(08)60385-1}}</ref> three for the ''Wall Street Journal'' (two in 1998 and one in 2000),<ref>Scruton, Roger (2 February 1998). [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB88619813994295000 "A Mad World Is Assaulting Us Smokers"]. ''The Wall Street Journal''.{{pb}} | + | |
| - | Scruton, Roger (9 February 1998). [http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/avx29b00/pdf "Anything Goes—Except Smoking]". ''The Wall Street Journal''.{{pb}} | + | |
| - | Scruton, Roger (7 January 2000). [http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/ozj45a99/pdf "The Risks of being Risk-free"]. ''The Wall Street Journal''.</ref> one for ''[[City Journal]]'' in 2001,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Scruton |first1=Roger |title=What Is Acceptable Risk? |url=https://www.city-journal.org/html/what-acceptable-risk-12043.html |work=City Journal |date=Winter 2001 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403045221/https://www.city-journal.org/html/what-acceptable-risk-12043.html |archivedate=3 April 2019}}</ref> and a 65-page pamphlet for the [[Institute of Economic Affairs]], ''WHO, What, and Why: Trans-national Government, Legitimacy and the World Health Organisation'' (2000). The latter criticized the [[World Health Organization]]'s campaign against smoking, arguing that transnational bodies should not seek to influence domestic legislation because they are not answerable to the electorate.<ref>Scruton, Roger (May 2000). [http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/ddc03c00/pdf ''WHO, What, and Why: Trans-national government, Legitimacy and the World Health Organisation'']. London: Institute of Economic Affairs. {{isbn|978-0255364874}}</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ''The Guardian'' reported in 2002 that Scruton had been writing about these issues while failing to disclose that he was receiving £54,000 a year from JTI.<ref name=Gilmore2004/> The payments came to light when a September 2001 email from the Scrutons to JTI was leaked to ''The Guardian''. Signed by Scruton's wife, the email asked the company to increase their £4,500 monthly fee to £5,500, in exchange for which Scruton would "aim to place an article every two months" in the ''Wall Street Journal'', ''Times'', ''Telegraph'', ''Spectator'', ''Financial Times'', ''Economist'', ''Independent'', or ''New Statesman''.<ref name=Maguire24Jan2002>Maguire, Kevin and Borger, Julian (24 January 2002). [https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4341924,00.html "Scruton in media plot to push the sale of cigarettes"]. ''The Guardian''.</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Stille |first1=Alexander |title=Advocating Tobacco, On the Payroll Of Tobacco |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/23/arts/think-tank-advocating-tobacco-on-the-payroll-of-tobacco.html |work=The New York Times |date=23 March 2002 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825143206/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/23/arts/think-tank-advocating-tobacco-on-the-payroll-of-tobacco.html |archivedate=25 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Gilmore2004>Gilmore, Anna and McKee, Martin (2004). "Tobacco-control policy in the European Union", in Eric A. Feldman and Ronald Bayer (eds.). ''Unfiltered: Conflicts over Tobacco Policy and Public Health''. Harvard University Press, [https://books.google.com/books?id=fyjzNl7CW14C&pg=PA254 254].</ref> Scruton, who said the email had been stolen, replied that he had never concealed his connection with JTI.<ref name=Scruton28Jan2002>Scruton, Roger (28 January 2002). [https://www.theguardian.com/smoking/Story/0,2763,640445,00.html "A puff for the Scrutons"]. ''The Guardian''.</ref> In response to ''The Guardian'' article, the ''Financial Times'' ended his contract as a columnist,<ref>Timmins, Nicholas and Williams, Frances (24 January 2002). "Writer Failed to Declare Tobacco Interest". ''Financial Times''; Maguire, Kevin (25 January 2002). [https://www.theguardian.com/media/2002/jan/25/advertising1 "Scruton faces sack from FT over tobacco retainer"]. ''The Guardian''.</ref> The ''Wall Street Journal'' suspended his contributions,<ref>Allison, Rebecca (5 February 2002). [https://www.theguardian.com/media/2002/feb/05/tobaccoadvertising.internationaleducationnews "Wall Street Journal drops Scruton over tobacco cash"]. ''The Guardian''.</ref><ref>Woolf, Marie (5 February 2002). [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/scruton-sacked-by-second-newspaper-for-tobacco-links-659541.html "Scruton sacked by second newspaper for tobacco links"]. ''The Independent''.</ref> and the Institute for Economic Affairs said it would introduce an author-declaration policy.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kmietowicz |first1=Zosia |last2=Ferriman |first2=Annabel|title=Pro-tobacco writer admits he should have declared an interest |journal=BMJ |date=2 February 2002 |volume=324 |issue= 7332|at=257 |doi=10.1136/bmj.324.7332.257 |pmid=11823350|pmc=1122192 |url=https://www.bmj.com/content/324/7332/257.1}}</ref> [[Chatto & Windus]] withdrew from negotiations for a book, and Birkbeck removed his visiting-professor privileges.<ref name=ScrutonDooley2016p141/> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ===Move to the United States=== | + | |
| - | [[File:Montpelier near Sperryville, closeup of house (cropped).JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|The Scrutons owned [[Montpelier (Sperryville, Virginia)|Montpelier]], near [[Sperryville, Virginia|Sperryville]], Virginia, from 2004 to 2009.<ref name=ScrutonDooley2016p192/>]] | + | |
| - | The tobacco controversy damaged Scruton's consultancy business in England. In part because of that, and because the [[Hunting Act 2004]] had banned fox hunting in England and Wales, the Scrutons considered moving to the United States permanently, and in 2004 they purchased [[Montpelier (Sperryville, Virginia)|Montpelier]], an 18th-century [[Plantation complexes in the Southern United States|plantation house]] near [[Sperryville, Virginia]].{{sfn|Scruton|Dooley|2016|loc=181, 192–193}} Scruton set up a company, Montpelier Strategy LLC, to promote the house as a venue for weddings and similar events.<ref name=companyinterests/> The couple lived there while retaining Sundey Hill Farm, but decided in 2009 against a permanent move to the United States and sold the house.<ref name=ScrutonDooley2016p192>{{harvnb|Scruton|Dooley|2016|loc=192–193}}; {{cite web|title=Welcome to Montpelier in Rappahannock County, Virginia|url=http://web.mac.com/rogerandsophie/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html |website=web.mac.com/rogerandsophie|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110207060237/http://web.mac.com/rogerandsophie/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html|archivedate=7 February 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> Scruton held two part-time academic positions during this period. From 2005 to 2009 he was research professor at the [[Institute for the Psychological Sciences]] in [[Arlington, Virginia]], a graduate school of [[Divine Mercy University]]; and in 2009 he worked at the [[American Enterprise Institute]] in Washington, D.C., where he wrote his book ''Green Philosophy'' (2011).{{sfn|Scruton|Dooley|2016|loc=183}} | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ===Wine, opera=== | + | |
| - | From 2001 to 2009 Scruton wrote a wine column for the ''[[New Statesman]]'', and contributed to ''[[The World of Fine Wine]]'' and ''Questions of Taste: The Philosophy of Wine'' (2007), with his essay "The Philosophy of Wine". His book ''I Drink Therefore I am: A Philosopher's Guide to Wine'' (2009) in part comprises material from his ''New Statesman'' column.<ref>{{cite news |last=Quinn|first=Anthony|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/dec/20/drink-therefore-am-roger-scruton |title=I Drink Therefore I Am by Roger Scruton |work=The Guardian |date=20 December 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/writers/roger_scruton |title=Roger Scruton |work=New Statesman|url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110920083059/http://www.newstatesman.com/writers/roger_scruton |archivedate=20 September 2011}}</ref> Scruton also wrote three [[Libretto|libretti]], two set to music. The first is a one-act chamber piece, ''The Minister'' (1994),<ref>Scruton, Roger. [http://hdl.handle.net/2144/14498 "The Minister. A one-act opera in six scenes"], OpenBU, Boston University Libraries.</ref> and the second a two-act opera, ''[[Violet (opera)|Violet]]'' (2005). The latter, based on the life of the British harpsichordist [[Violet Gordon-Woodhouse]], was performed twice at the [[Guildhall School of Music]] in London in 2005.<ref name=about/> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ==2010s== | + | |
| - | ===Academic posts, knighthood=== | + | |
| - | The Scrutons returned from the United States to live at Sundey Hill Farm in Wiltshire, and Scruton took an unpaid research professorship at the [[University of Buckingham]].<ref name=about/> In January 2010 he began an unpaid three-year visiting professorship at the [[University of Oxford]] to teach graduate classes on aesthetics,<ref>{{cite web |title=Title of Visiting Professor conferred on Roger Scruton |url=http://www.philosophy.ox.ac.uk/news__events/older_news/-_title_of_visiting_professor_conferred_on_roger_scruton |publisher=Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110210020635/http://www.philosophy.ox.ac.uk/news__events/older_news/-_title_of_visiting_professor_conferred_on_roger_scruton |archivedate=10 February 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> and was made a senior research fellow of [[Blackfriars, Oxford|Blackfriars Hall]], Oxford.<ref>{{cite web |title=Prof Sir Roger Scruton |url=https://www.bfriars.ox.ac.uk/p |publisher=Blackfriars, Oxford |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013065452/https://www.bfriars.ox.ac.uk/people/roger-scruton/ |archivedate=13 October 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2010 he delivered the Scottish [[Gifford Lectures]] at the [[University of St Andrews]] on "The Face of God",<ref>[https://www.giffordlectures.org/lectures/face-god "The Face of God"]. University of St Andrews Gifford Lectures, 2010.{{pb}} | + | |
| - | [https://gifford.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/listen-to-the-2010-lectures/ "2010 Gifford lectures"], University of St Andrews Gifford Lectures.</ref> and from 2011 until 2014 he held a quarter-time professorial fellowship at St Andrews in moral philosophy.<ref>[http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/philosophy/news/?newsid=130 "Roger Scruton appointed as quarter-time professorial fellow"], School of Philosophical, Anthropological and Film Studies, University of St Andrews, accessed 27 December 2010.</ref><ref name=cv>{{cite web |last1=Scruton |first1=Roger |title=Curriculum vitae |url=https://www.roger-scruton.com/about/curriculum-vitae |website=roger-scruton.com |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410200517/https://www.roger-scruton.com/about/curriculum-vitae |archivedate=10 April 2019}}</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Two novels appeared during this period: ''[[Notes from Underground (Scruton novel)|Notes from Underground]]'' (2014) is based on his experiences in Czechoslovakia,<ref name=Derbyshire12Sept2014/> and ''[[The Disappeared (novel)|The Disappeared]]'' (2015) deals with child trafficking in a Yorkshire town.<ref>Murray, Douglas (4 April 2015). [http://www.spectator.co.uk/2015/04/roger-scruton-a-prophet-in-his-own-land/ "'The truth is hard': an interview with Roger Scruton"], ''The Spectator''.</ref> Scruton was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in the 2016 Birthday Honours for "services to philosophy, teaching and public education".<ref name=LondonGazette>{{London Gazette|issue=61608 |supp=y|page=B2|date=11 June 2016}}{{pb}} | + | |
| - | {{cite web | url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/528698/birthday_honours_2016_high_awards_notes.pdf | title=The 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours List | publisher=www.gov.uk | date=10 June 2016}}</ref> He sat on the editorial board of the ''[[British Journal of Aesthetics]]''<ref>[http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/aesthj/editorial_board.html "Editorial board"], ''British Journal of Aesthetics'', accessed 6 December 2010.</ref> and on the board of visitors of [[Ralston College]], a new college proposed in [[Savannah, Georgia]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ralston.ac/people |title=Board of Visitors|publisher=Ralston College|archive-url=https://archive.is/LvAhF|archive-date=16 January 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> and was a senior fellow of the [[Ethics and Public Policy Center]], a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://eppc.org/author/roger_scruton/ |title=Roger Scruton|publisher=Ethics and Public Policy Center|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403071108/https://eppc.org/author/roger_scruton/|archive-date=3 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ===Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission=== | + | |
| - | In November 2018, [[Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government|Communities Secretary]] [[James Brokenshire]] appointed Scruton as unpaid chair of the British government's Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, established to promote better design of homes.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Waite |first=Richard |url=https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/traditionalist-roger-scruton-to-chair-governments-new-beauty-watchdog/10036850.article |title=Traditionalist Roger Scruton to chair government's new 'beauty' watchdog |work=Architects Journal |date=5 November 2018}}</ref> [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] and [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] MPs immediately called for Scruton's resignation over remarks he had made years earlier: he had described ''[[Islamophobia]]'' as a "propaganda word", homosexuality as "not normal", lesbianism as an attempt to find "committed love that [a woman] can't get from men any more", and [[date rape]] as not a crime. He had also made allegedly conspiratorial remarks about the Jewish Hungarian-American businessman [[George Soros]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-46128371 |title=Academic Scruton's housing role defended |date=12 November 2018 |publisher=BBC News}}{{pb}} | + | |
| - | {{Cite news |last=Moore |first=Rowan |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/nov/25/would-you-trust-roger-scruton-to-design-your-new-home-commission-building-better-building-beautiful |title=Would you trust Roger Scruton to design your new home? |date=25 November 2018 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> In April 2019, hours after the ''New Statesman'' published an interview with Scruton in which he appeared to repeat some of the remarks, Brokenshire dismissed Scruton from the Commission.<ref name=Eaton10April2019>{{cite news |last1= Eaton |first1=George |title= Roger Scruton: 'Cameron's resignation was the death knell of the Conservative Party' |url= https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2019/04/roger-scruton-cameron-s-resignation-was-death-knell-conservative-party |work= New Statesman |date= 10 April 2019 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20190410114310/https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2019/04/roger-scruton-cameron-s-resignation-was-death-knell-conservative-party |archive-date=10 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Maguire |first= Patrick |url= https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2019/04/james-brokenshire-sacks-roger-scruton-government-housing-tsar |title= James Brokenshire sacks Roger Scruton as government housing tsar |work=New Statesman |date= 10 April 2019}}{{pb}} | + | |
| - | {{Cite news |url= https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-47880669 |title=Academic Scruton sacked from housing role |work=BBC News |date=10 April 2019}}</ref> Brokenshire reversed his decision when it emerged that several comments had been published out of context.<ref name=Wilby2May2019/><ref name=NS8July2019/><ref name=Brokenshire13July2019>{{cite news |last1=Brokenshire |first1=James |title=Full letter: James Brokenshire apologises to Roger Scruton |url=https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/07/full-letter-james-brokenshire-apologises-to-roger-scruton/ |work=The Spectator |date=13 July 2019 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714132353/https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/07/full-letter-james-brokenshire-apologises-to-roger-scruton/ |archivedate=14 July 2019}}</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | The interview had been conducted by [[George Eaton (journalist) |George Eaton]], then ''New Statesman'' joint deputy editor. To publicize it, Eaton tweeted extracts and said that Scruton had made "a series of outrageous remarks".<ref name=Wilby2May2019/><ref name=Murray27April2019/> According to the article, Scruton had told Eaton that ''Islamophobia'' was a word "invented by the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] in order to stop discussion of a major issue", and that "[a]nybody who doesn't think that there's a Soros empire in Hungary has not observed the facts." The article omitted that Scruton had also said: "it's not necessarily an empire of Jews; that's such nonsense."<ref name=NS8July2019/> Of the Chinese, Eaton tweeted that Scruton had told him: "Each Chinese person is a kind of replica of the next one and that is a very frightening thing."<ref name=Murray10April2019/> Eaton's article stated that he had said: "They're creating robots out of their own people ... each Chinese person is a kind of replica of the next one ...."<ref name=Eaton10April2019/> The transcript showed the full sentence: "In a sense they’re creating robots out of their own people by so constraining what can be done,"<ref name=Statesmanfulltranscript/> which suggested Scruton was discussing the [[Communist Party of China|Chinese Communist Party]].<ref name=Murray10April2019>{{Cite news |last=Murray |first=Douglas |url=https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/04/roger-scrutons-sacking-exposes-the-tories-cowardice/ |title= Roger Scruton's sacking exposes the Tories' cowardice |date= 10 April 2019|work= The Spectator |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190410212902/https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/04/roger-scrutons-sacking-exposes-the-tories-cowardice/ |archive-date=10 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Statesmanfulltranscript/> When Scruton's dismissal was announced, Eaton posted a photograph of himself on Instagram drinking champagne, captioned "The feeling when you get right-wing racist and homophobe Roger Scruton sacked as a Tory government adviser".<ref name=Murray27April2019/> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | In "An apology for thinking", a response in ''The Spectator'', Scruton explained his remarks, adding: "We in Britain are entering a dangerous social condition in which the direct expression of opinions that conflict – or merely seem to conflict – with a narrow set of orthodoxies is instantly punished by a band of self-appointed vigilantes."<ref name=Scruton12April2019>{{cite news |last1=Scruton |first1=Roger |title=Roger Scruton: An apology for thinking |url=https://spectator.us/roger-scruton-apology-thinking/ |work=The Spectator |date=11 April 2019 |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20190412064550/https://spectator.us/roger-scruton-apology-thinking/ |archivedate=12 April 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> The next day, Eaton apologized for having tweeted truncated quotations and for the Instagram post, but otherwise he stood by the interview.<ref name=Eaton12April2019>{{cite news |last1=Eaton |first1=George |title=On my interview with Roger Scruton |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/2019/04/my-interview-roger-scruton |work=New Statesman |date=12 April 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> The ''New Statesman'' published the transcript of the interview<ref name=Statesmanfulltranscript>{{cite news |title=The Roger Scruton interview: the full transcript |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2019/04/roger-scruton-interview-full-transcript |work=New Statesman |date=26 April 2019 |archiveurl=https://archive.is/low4x |archivedate=27 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> after [[Douglas Murray (author)|Douglas Murray]] obtained a recording and published details in ''The Spectator''.<ref name=Murray27April2019>{{cite news |last1=Murray |first1=Douglas |title=The Scruton tapes: an anatomy of a modern hit job |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/04/the-scruton-tapes-an-anatomy-of-a-modern-hit-job/ |work=The Spectator |date=27 April 2019 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425093105/https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/04/the-scruton-tapes-an-anatomy-of-a-modern-hit-job/ |archivedate=25 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Waterson |first1=Jim |title=New Statesman and Spectator in dirty tricks row over Scruton tape |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/apr/25/new-statesman-investigates-how-rival-spectator-obtained-interview-tape |work=The Guardian |date=25 April 2019}}</ref><ref name=BBCRadio426April2019>{{cite web |title=BBC Today Programme 26/4/19 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atbg6UoI0is |publisher=Roger Scruton Official, YouTube}}</ref> The ''New Statesman'' readers' editor, [[Peter Wilby]], concluded that Eaton had been "clearly at fault in his Instagram post", that his tweet about China had been misleading, and that the other tweets "took words somewhat out of context". Calling Scruton's remarks "outrageous" suggested, Wilby wrote, that Eaton had "approached the interview as a political activist, not as a journalist".<ref name=Wilby2May2019>{{cite news |last1=Wilby |first1=Peter |title=The Scruton Affair |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2019/05/scruton-affair |work=New Statesman |date=2 May 2019 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502191020/https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2019/05/scruton-affair |archivedate=2 May 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> The ''New Statesman'' apologized,<ref name=NS8July2019>{{cite news |title=Sir Roger Scruton |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/media/2019/07/sir-roger-scruton |work=New Statesman |date=8 July 2019 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190709033111/https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/media/2019/07/sir-roger-scruton |archivedate=9 July 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> as did James Brokenshire.<ref name=Brokenshire13July2019/> Scruton was appointed later in July as co-chair of the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission.<ref name=Murray23July2019>{{cite news |last1=Murray|first1=Douglas |title=Roger Scruton gets his job back |url=https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/07/roger-scruton-gets-his-job-back/ |work=The Spectator |date=23 July 2019}}</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | == Philosophical and political views == | + | |
| - | ===Aesthetics=== | + | |
| - | Scruton was trained in [[analytic philosophy]], although he was drawn to other traditions. "I remain struck by the thin and withered countenance that philosophy quickly assumes," he wrote in 2012, "when it wanders away from art and literature, and I cannot open a journal like ''[[Mind (journal)|Mind]]'' or ''[[The Philosophical Review]]'' without experiencing an immediate sinking of the heart, like opening a door into a morgue."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Scruton |first1=Roger |title=Confessions of a Sceptical Francophile |journal=Philosophy |date=October 2012 |volume=87 |issue=4 |pages=477–495 |doi=10.1017/S0031819112000368 |url=https://www.roger-scruton.com/articles/284-confessions-of-a-sceptical-francophile}}</ref> He specialised in [[aesthetics]] throughout his career. From 1971 to 1992 he taught aesthetics at Birkbeck College. His PhD thesis formed the basis of his first book, ''Art and Imagination'' (1974), in which he argued that "what demarcates aesthetic interest from other sorts is that it involves the appreciation of something for its own sake".<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.pjaesthetics.org/index.php/pjaesthetics/article/view/12/11 |title=Imagination, Attitude and Experience in Aesthetic Judgement|first=Cain|last=Samuel Todd|journal=Postgraduate Journal of Aesthetics|date=April 2004}}</ref> He subsequently published ''The Aesthetics of Architecture'' (1979), ''The Aesthetic Understanding'' (1983), ''The Aesthetics of Music'' (1997), and ''Beauty'' (2010). In 2008 a two-day conference was held at [[Durham University]] to assess his impact in the field, and in 2012 a collection of essays, ''Scruton's Aesthetics'', was published by Palgrave Macmillan.<ref>Hamilton, Andy; Zangwill, Nick (2012). ''Scruton's Aesthetics''. London: Palgrave Macmillan; [http://www.dur.ac.uk/philosophy/events/conferences/scrutonaesthetics/ "Scruton's Aesthetics"], Department of Philosophy, Durham University, 6 November 2012.</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | In an [[Intelligence Squared]] debate in March 2009, Scruton (seconding historian [[David Starkey]]) proposed the motion: "Britain has become indifferent to beauty", and held an image of [[Sandro Botticelli|Botticelli]]'s ''[[The Birth of Venus (Botticelli)|The Birth of Venus]]'' next to one of the supermodel [[Kate Moss]].<ref>Bayley, Stephen (22 March 2009). [https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/mar/22/national-trust-intelligence-squad "Has Britain become indifferent to beauty?]. ''The Guardian''.</ref> Later that year he wrote and presented a [[BBC Two]] documentary, ''[[Why Beauty Matters]]'', in which he argued that beauty should be restored to its traditional position in art, architecture and music.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00p6tsd |title=Why Beauty Matters |publisher=BBC Two |date=28 November 2009}}</ref> He wrote that he had received "more than 500 e-mails from viewers, all but one saying, 'Thank Heavens someone is saying what needs to be said.'"<ref>{{cite web |last=Scruton |first=Roger |url=http://spectator.org/archives/2010/05/17/on-defending-beauty |title=On Defending Beauty |work=The American Spectator |date=May 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100519110549/http://spectator.org/archives/2010/05/17/on-defending-beauty |archivedate=19 May 2010 }}</ref> In 2018 he argued that a belief in God makes for more beautiful architecture: "Who can doubt, on visiting Venice, that this abundant flower of aesthetic endeavor was rooted in faith and watered by penitential tears? Surely, if we want to build settlements today we should heed the lesson of Venice. We should begin always with an act of consecration, since we thereby put down the real roots of a community."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Scruton |first1=Roger |title=The Beauty of Belonging |url=https://www.plough.com/en/topics/culture/art/the-beauty-of-belonging |journal=Plough Quarterly |date=Autumn 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Phillips|first=Francis|url=https://catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2018/11/17/only-religion-could-have-inspired-the-beauties-of-venice/|title=Only religion could have inspired the beauties of Venice |work=Catholic Herald|date=7 November 2018}}</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ===Arguments for conservatism=== | + | |
| - | {{Conservatism sidebar}} | + | |
| - | Best known for his writing in support of conservatism,<ref>Freeman, Samuel (21 April 2016). [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/04/21/enemies-of-roger-scruton/ "The Enemies of Roger Scruton"], ''New York Review of Books''.</ref> Scruton's intellectual heroes were [[Edmund Burke]], [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge|Coleridge]], [[Fyodor Dostoevsky|Dostoevsky]], [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|Hegel]], [[John Ruskin|Ruskin]], and [[T. S. Eliot]].<ref>Dooley, Mark (2009). ''The Roger Scruton Reader''. London and New York: Continuum, xii.</ref> His third book, ''The Meaning of Conservatism'' (1980)—which he called "a somewhat Hegelian defence of Tory values in the face of their betrayal by the free marketeers"<ref name=Scruton2005p51>''Gentle Regrets'', 51.</ref>—was responsible, he said, for blighting his academic career.<ref name=Edemariam5June2010/><ref>Norman, Jesse (27 September 2014). [http://www.spectator.co.uk/2014/09/how-to-be-a-conservative-by-roger-scruton-book-review/ "Passion, authority and the odd mini-rant: Scruton’s conservative vision"]. ''The Spectator''.</ref> He supported [[Margaret Thatcher]], while remaining sceptical of her view of the market as a solution to everything, but after the [[Falklands War]], he realized that she "recognised that the self-identity of the country was at stake, and that its revival was a political task".{{sfn|Garnett|Hickson|2013|loc=113–114}} | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Scruton wrote in ''Gentle Regrets'' (2005) that he found several of Burke's arguments in ''[[Reflections on the Revolution in France]]'' (1790) persuasive. Although Burke was writing about revolution, not socialism, Scruton was persuaded that, as he put it, the utopian promises of socialism are accompanied by an abstract vision of the mind that bears little relation to the way most people think. Burke also convinced him that there is no direction to history, no moral or spiritual progress; that people think collectively toward a common goal only during crises such as war, and that trying to organize society this way requires a real or imagined enemy; hence, Scruton wrote, the strident tone of socialist literature.<ref name=Regretsp40/> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Scruton further argued, following Burke, that society is held together by authority and the [[rule of law]], in the sense of the right to obedience, not by the imagined rights of citizens. Obedience, he wrote, is "the prime virtue of political beings, the disposition that makes it possible to govern them, and without which societies crumble into 'the dust and powder of individuality'". Real freedom does not stand in conflict with obedience, but is its other side.<ref name=Regretsp40>''Gentle Regrets'', 40–41.</ref> He was also persuaded by Burke's arguments about the [[social contract]], including that most parties to the contract are either dead or not yet born. To forget this, he wrote—to throw away customs and institutions—is to "place the present members of society in a dictatorial dominance over those who went before, and those who came after them".<ref>''Gentle Regrets'', 43.</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Beliefs that appear to be examples of prejudice may be useful and important, he wrote: "our most necessary beliefs may be both unjustified and unjustifiable, from our own perspective, and the attempt to justify them will merely lead to their loss." A prejudice in favour of [[modesty]] in women and [[chivalry]] in men, for example, may aid the stability of sexual relationships and the raising of children, although these are not offered as reasons in support of the prejudice. It may therefore be easy to show the prejudice as irrational, but there will be a loss nonetheless if it is discarded.<ref>''Gentle Regrets'', 42.</ref> Scruton was critical of the contemporary [[Feminism|feminist]] movement, while reserving praise for suffragists such as [[Mary Wollstonecraft]].<ref name=Edemariam5June2010/> However, he praised [[Germaine Greer]] in 2016, saying that she had "cast an awful lot of light on our literary tradition" by showing the male as the dominant figure, and defended her against criticism for having used the word "sex" to describe the difference between men and women, rather than "gender", which Scruton called "politically correct".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm8e41sKUZE&t=29m43s|title=Roger Scruton's speech in Copenhagen, 14 May 2016|date=14 May 2016|author=Danish Free Press Society|publisher=Free Press|via=YouTube}}</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | [[File:Nexus Masterclass Roger Scruton, November 2015.webm|thumb|left|upright=1.3|Scruton discussing the [[European Union]] and the [[nation state]], November 2015]] | + | |
| - | In ''Arguments for Conservatism'' (2006), Scruton marked out the areas in which philosophical thinking is required if conservatism is to be intellectually persuasive. He argued that human beings are creatures of limited and local affections. Territorial loyalty is at the root of all forms of government where law and liberty reign supreme; every expansion of jurisdiction beyond the frontiers of the nation state leads to a decline in accountability.<ref>Scruton, Roger (2006). ''A Political Philosophy: Arguments for Conservatism''. London: Bloomsbury, 3, 19.</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | He opposed elevating the "nation" above its people, which would threaten rather than facilitate citizenship and peace. "Conservatism and conservation" are two aspects of a single policy, that of husbanding resources, including the [[social capital]] embodied in laws, customs and institutions, and the material capital contained in the environment. He argued further that the law should not be used as a weapon to advance special interests. People impatient for reform—for example in the areas of [[euthanasia]] or [[abortion]]—are reluctant to accept what may be "glaringly obvious to others—that the law exists precisely to impede their ambitions".<ref>''Arguments for Conservatism'', 15, 34, 69.</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | The book defines [[post-modernism]] as the claim that there are no grounds for truth, objectivity, and meaning, and that conflicts between views are therefore nothing more than contests of power. Scruton argued that, while the West is required to judge other cultures in their own terms, Western culture is adversely judged as ethnocentric and racist. He wrote: "The very reasoning which sets out to destroy the ideas of objective truth and absolute value imposes political correctness as absolutely binding, and cultural relativism as objectively true."<ref>''Arguments for Conservatism'', 106, 115, 117.</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ===Religion=== | + | |
| - | Scruton was an [[Anglican]]. His book ''Our Church: A Personal History of the Church of England'' (2013) defended the relevance of the [[Church of England]].{{cn|date=October 2018}} He contends, following [[Immanuel Kant]], that human beings have a transcendental dimension, a sacred core exhibited in their capacity for [[self-reflection]].<ref>Dooley, Mark (2009). ''Roger Scruton: The Philosopher on Dover Beach''. London: Continuum, 12, 42.</ref> He argues that we are in an era of secularization without precedent in the history of the world; writers and artists such as [[Rainer Maria Rilke]], [[T. S. Eliot]], [[Edward Hopper]] and [[Arnold Schoenberg]] "devoted much energy to recuperating the experience of the sacred—but as a private rather than a public form of consciousness." Because these thinkers directed their art at the few, he writes, it has never appealed to the many.<ref name= Arguments142>''Arguments for Conservatism'', 142–43, 146–47, 150–53.</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Scruton considered that religion plays a basic function in "endarkening" human minds. "Endarkenment" is Scruton's way of describing the process of socialization through which certain behaviours and choices are closed off and forbidden to the subject, which he considers necessary to curb socially damaging impulses and behaviour.<ref>Ireland, P. (1997). "Endarkening the mind: Roger Scruton and the power of law". ''Social & Legal Studies'', 6(1), 51.</ref><ref name= Stafford1991 /> On the matter of evidence of God's existence, Scruton said: "Rational argument can get us just so far… It can help us to understand the real difference between a faith that commands us to forgive our enemies, and one that commands us to slaughter them. But the leap of faith itself — this placing of your life at God's service — is a leap over reason's edge. This does not make it irrational, any more than falling in love is irrational."<ref>{{Cite web |url= https://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/science/sc0078.html |title= Science |access-date= 2 December 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160702045802/http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/science/sc0078.html | work = Catholic education |archive-date= 2 July 2016 |url-status= dead |df= dmy-all}}</ref> However, despite claiming that belief alone is sufficiently rational, he advocated a form of the [[argument from beauty]]: he said that when we take the beauty in the natural world around us as a gift, we are able to openly understand God. The beauty speaks to us, he claims, and from it we can understand God's presence around us.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/mar/17/roger-scruton-kindly-atheists|title=Roger Scruton and the kindly atheists |first=Mark |last= Vernon |date=17 March 2012|newspaper= The Guardian}}</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ===Totalitarianism=== | + | |
| - | Scruton defined totalitarianism as the absence of any constraint on central authority, with every aspect of life the concern of government. Advocates of totalitarianism feed on resentment, Scruton argues, and having seized power they proceed to abolish institutions—such as the law, property, and religion—that create authorities: "To the resentful it is these institutions that are the cause of inequality, and therefore the cause of their humiliations and failures." He argues that revolutions are not conducted from below by the people, but from above, in the name of the people, by an aspiring elite.<ref name=Arguments142/> The importance of [[Newspeak]] in totalitarian societies, he writes, is that the power of language to describe reality is replaced by language whose purpose is to avoid encounters with realities. He agrees with [[Alain Besançon]] that the totalitarian society envisaged by [[George Orwell]] in ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' (1949) can be only understood in theological terms, as a society founded on a transcendental negation. In accordance with [[T. S. Eliot]], Scruton believes that true originality is only possible within a tradition, and that it is precisely in modern conditions—conditions of fragmentation, heresy, and unbelief—that the conservative project acquires its sense.<ref>''Arguments for Conservatism'', 162–163, 182, 194.</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ===Sex=== | + | |
| - | The philosopher of religion Christopher Hamilton described Scruton's ''[[Sexual Desire (book)|Sexual Desire]]'' (1986) as "the most interesting and insightful philosophical account of sexual desire" produced within [[analytic philosophy]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hamilton |first1=Christopher |editor1-last= Soble |editor1-first=Alan |editor2-last=Power |editor2-first=Nicholas P. |title=The Philosophy of Sex: Contemporary Readings | edition=5th |date=2008 |publisher= Rowman & Littlefield |location=Lanham, MD |isbn=978-0-74254798-8 |at=101}}</ref> The book influenced subsequent discussions of sexual ethics.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Barnhill |first1=Anne | editor1-last = Crasnow| editor1-first=Sharon L. | editor2-last=Superson | editor2-first=Anita M. |title=Out from the Shadows: Analytical Feminist Contributions to Traditional Philosophy |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |year=2012 |at=115–116 |isbn=978-0-19985547-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1= Plaxton |first1=Michael |title= Implied Consent and Sexual Assault: Intimate Relationships, Autonomy, and Voice |publisher= [[McGill-Queen's University Press]] |location=Montreal |year=2015 |at=221, 223 |isbn= 978-0-77354620-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Janaway |first1=Christopher |editor-last=Honderich |editor-first=Ted |title=The Oxford Companion to Philosophy |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=1995 |at=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00hond/page/816 816] |isbn=978-0-19-866132-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00hond/page/816 }}</ref> [[Martha Nussbaum]] credited Scruton in 1997 with having provided "the most interesting philosophical attempt as yet to work through the moral issues involved in our treatment of persons as sex partners".<ref>{{cite book |last=Nussbaum|first=Martha |editor-last=Soble|editor-first=Alan|title=The Philosophy of Sex, Contemporary Readings | edition=3rd |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |location=Oxford |year=1997 |at=293 |isbn=978-0-8476-8481-6}}</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | According to [[Jonathan Dollimore]], Scruton based a conservative sexual ethic on the Hegelian proposition that "the final end of every rational being is the building of the self", which involves recognizing the other as an end in itself. Scruton argues that the major feature of perversion is "sexual release that avoids or abolishes the ''other''", which he sees as [[Narcissism |narcissistic]] and [[Solipsism|solipsistic]].<ref name=Dollimore260>[[Dollimore, Jonathan]] (1991). ''Sexual Dissidence: Augustine to Wilde, Freud to Foucault''. Oxford University Press, 260–261.</ref> Nussbaum countered that Scruton did not apply his principle of otherness equally—for example, to sexual relationships between adults and children or between Protestants and Catholics.<ref>Nussbaum, Martha C. (10 September 2009). [https://newrepublic.com/article/69203/the-passion-fashion "The Passion Fashion"], ''The New Republic''.</ref> In an essay, "Sexual morality and the liberal consensus" (1990), Scruton wrote that [[homosexuality]] is a perversion because the body of the homosexual's lover belongs to the same category as his own.<ref>Scruton, Roger (1990). ''The Philosopher on Dover Beach''. London: Carcanet Press, 268.</ref> He further argued that gay people have no children and consequently no interest in creating a socially stable future. He therefore considered it justified to "instil in our children feelings of revulsion" towards homosexuality,<ref name= Stafford1991>Stafford, J. Martin (1991). [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00372432 "The two minds of Roger Scruton"]. ''Studies in Philosophy and Education'', 11(2), 187–193. {{doi |10.1007/BF00372432}}</ref> and in 2007 he challenged the idea that gay people should have the right to adopt.<ref>Scruton, Roger (28 January 2007). [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3636798/This-right-for-gays-is-an-injustice-to-children.html "This 'right' for gays is an injustice to children"], ''The Daily Telegraph''.</ref> Scruton told ''The Guardian'' in 2010 that he would no longer defend the view that revulsion against homosexuality can be justified.<ref name= Edemariam5June2010 /> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ===Animal rights=== | + | |
| - | [[File:Roger Scruton, September 2002.jpg|thumb|Scruton: rights imply obligations.]] | + | |
| - | In ''Animal Rights and Wrongs'' (2000), Scruton identifies three kinds of relationships of duty between humans and other animals: relationships with pets, who are given "honorary membership of the moral community"; with animals that are kept to be used in some way, "where we have a clear duty of care but we are not trying to establish quasi-personal relations"; and with wild animals.<ref name=Steinbacher2000>{{cite journal |last1=Steinbauer |first1=Anja |title=Roger Scruton |url=https://philosophynow.org/issues/27/Roger_Scruton |journal=Philosophy Now|issue=27|date=2000}}</ref> Scruton supports and grew to love hunting: "My life divides into three parts," he wrote in ''On Hunting'' (1998). "In the first I was wretched; in the second ill at ease; in the third hunting."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Scruton |first1=Roger |title=When Dumbo flew |url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/10th-october-1998/45/when-dumbo-flew |work=The Spectator |date=10 October 1998 |at=45}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Scruton |first1=Roger |title=Tally ho! Let the hunt remind us who we are |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/countryside/9765963/Tally-ho-Let-the-hunt-remind-us-who-we-are.html |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=25 December 2012}}</ref> For animals to have rights in the way humans have rights, he argues, they would also have to be "accorded not only the benefits of morality, but also the burdens, which are huge".<ref name=Steinbacher2000/> Every legal privilege, he writes, imposes a burden on the one who does not possess that privilege: that is, "your right may be my duty." He accuses [[animal rights]] advocates of "pre-scientific" [[anthropomorphism]], attributing traits to animals that are, he says, [[Beatrix Potter]]-like, where "only man is vile."<ref name=Scruton2000>Scruton, Roger (Summer 2000). [https://www.city-journal.org/html/animal-rights-11955.html "Animal Rights"]. ''City Journal''.</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | A [[deontological ethics|deontologist]], Scruton was critical of the [[consequentialism|consequentialist]], [[utilitarianism|utilitarian]] approach of the Australian philosopher and animal-rights advocate [[Peter Singer]].<ref name=Scruton2000/><ref>{{cite book |last=Scruton |first=Roger |title=On Human Nature |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton and Oxford |edition= |date=2017 |at=91|isbn=978-0-691-18303-9}}</ref><!--<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/philosophy/article/parfit-the-perfectionist/D24A41080134F08EFD7074839C998DE6|title=Parfit the Perfectionist|first=Roger|last=Scruton|date=10 October 2014|journal=Philosophy|volume=89|issue=4|loc=621–634|via=Cambridge Core|doi=10.1017/S0031819114000266}}</ref>--> Scruton wrote that Singer's works, including ''[[Animal Liberation (book)|Animal Liberation]]'' (1975), "contain little or no philosophical argument. They derive their radical moral conclusions from a vacuous utilitarianism that counts the pain and pleasure of all living things as equally significant and that ignores just about everything that has been said in our philosophical tradition about the real distinction between persons and animals."<ref name=Scruton2000/> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ===Other views=== | + | |
| - | In 2014, Scruton stated that he supported [[English independence]] because he believed that it would uphold friendship between [[England]], [[Scotland]], [[Wales]], and [[Northern Ireland]], and because the English would have a say in all matters.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26173128 |title=A Point of View: Should the English have a say on Scottish independence? |date=23 February 2014 | publisher=BBC News}}</ref> In 2019, when asked if he believed in English independence, he told the ''New Statesman'': | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | <blockquote>No, I don't think I've ever really favoured English independence. My view is that if the Scots want to be independent then we should aim for the same thing ... I don't think the Welsh want independence, the Northern Irish certainly don't. The Scottish desire for independence is, to some extent, a fabrication. They want to identify themselves as Scots but still ... enjoy the subsidy they get from being part of the kingdom. I can see there are Scottish nationalists who envision something more than that, but if that becomes a real political force then yeah, we should try for independence too. As it is, as you know, the Scots have two votes: they can vote for their own parliament and vote to put their people into our parliament, who come to our parliament with no interest in Scotland but an interest in bullying us.<ref name=Statesmanfulltranscript/></blockquote> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ==Death== | + | |
| - | After learning in July 2019 that he had cancer, Scruton underwent [[chemotherapy]], which extended his life.<ref name=Scruton21Dec2019>Scruton, Roger (21 December 2019). [https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/12/roger-scruton-my-2019/ "Roger Scruton: My 2019"]. ''The Spectator''.</ref> He died on 12 January 2020 at the age of 75.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-51084248 "Roger Scruton: Conservative thinker dies at 75"]. BBC News, 12 January 2020.</ref> Following his death, Conservative MEP [[Daniel Hannan]] called him "the greatest conservative of our age", adding: "The country has lost a towering intellect. I have lost a wonderful friend." [[Robert Jenrick]], Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, tweeted: "Deeply sorry to learn of the death of Sir Roger Scruton. His work on building more beautifully, submitted recently to my department, will proceed and stand part of his unusually rich legacy."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/jan/12/sir-roger-scruton-conservative-philosopher-dies-aged-75|title=Sir Roger Scruton, conservative philosopher, dies at 75|date=12 January 2020|via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref> [[Douglas Murray (author)|Douglas Murray]] paid tribute to Scruton's personal kindness, calling him "one of the kindest, most encouraging, thoughtful, and generous people you could ever have known".<ref>{{cite web |first=Douglas |last=Murray |author-link=Douglas Murray (author) |url=https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2020/01/roger-scruton-a-man-who-seemed-bigger-than-the-age |title=Roger Scruton: A man who seemed bigger than the age |work=[[The Spectator]] |date=12 January 2020 |access-date=13 January 2020}}</ref> | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | == Selected works == | + | |
| - | {{main|Roger Scruton bibliography}} | + | |
| - | <small>Source:<ref>https://www.roger-scruton.com/books</ref></small> | + | |
| - | {{refbegin|2}} | + | |
| - | '''Nonfiction''' | + | |
| - | * ''Art And Imagination: A Study in the Philosophy of Mind'' (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974) | + | |
| - | * ''The Aesthetics of Architecture'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 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 (book)|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'' (ed.) (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); republished as ''Philosophy: Principles and Problems'' (2005) | + | |
| - | * ''The Aesthetics of Music'' (1997) | + | |
| - | * ''On Hunting'' (1998) | + | |
| - | * ''An Intelligent Person's Guide to Modern Culture'' (1998); republished 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); revised and republished 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) | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | '''Fiction''' | + | |
| - | * ''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 novel)|Notes from Underground]]'' (2014) | + | |
| - | * ''[[The Disappeared (novel)|The Disappeared]]'' (2015) | + | |
| - | * ''Souls in the Twilight: Stories of Loss'' (2018) | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | '''Opera''' | + | |
| - | * ''The Minister'' (1994). | + | |
| - | * ''[[Violet (opera)|Violet]]'' (2005) | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | '''Television''' | + | |
| - | * ''[[Why Beauty Matters]]'' (BBC Two, 2009) | + | |
| - | {{refend}} | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ==See also== | + | |
| - | * [[Animal rights#Roger Scruton]] | + | |
| - | * [[Oikophobia]] | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ==Notes== | + | |
| - | {{Notelist}} | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | == References == | + | |
| - | {{Reflist}} | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | == Further reading== | + | |
| - | {{commons category}} | + | |
| - | {{wikiquote}} | + | |
| - | * [http://www.roger-scruton.com/ Roger Scruton's website] | + | |
| - | * [http://www.spectator.co.uk/author/roger-scruton/ Roger Scruton's articles] at ''The Spectator''. | + | |
| - | * [http://www.newcriterion.com/author.cfm?mode=articles&authorid=85&CFID=339845445&CFTOKEN=27009753 Roger Scruton's articles] at ''The New Criterion''. | + | |
| - | * [http://www.opendemocracy.net/author/roger-scruton Roger Scruton's articles] at [[OpenDemocracy.net|Open Democracy]] | + | |
| - | * [https://web.archive.org/web/20150509104425/http://www.newstatesman.com/writers/roger_scruton Roger Scruton's wine articles]. ''New Statesman'', October 2005 – August 2009. | + | |
| - | * [http://www.salisburyreview.co.uk/The_Salisbury_Review_Front_Page.html ''The Salisbury Review''] | + | |
| - | * [http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/gifford/2010/listen/ The Gifford Lectures 2011–2012]. University of St Andrews. | + | |
| - | * [http://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/1180477/ The Stanton Lectures 2011–2012]. University of Cambridge. | + | |
| - | *[https://wheatley.byu.edu/the-true-the-good-and-the-beautiful/ The True, the Good, and the Beautiful]. Brigham Young University. | + | |
| - | * {{IMDb name|2497517}} | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | '''Articles''' | + | |
| - | * Billings, Joshua (11 May 2009). [http://www.oxonianreview.org/wp/a-joy-forever/ "A Joy Forever?"]. ''Oxonian Review'' (review of Scruton's ''Beauty''). | + | |
| - | * Kimball, Roger (17 February 1991). [https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/17/books/an-assault-on-mush.html "An Assault on Mush"]. ''The New York Times''. | + | |
| - | * Kimball, Roger (June 1994). [http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Saving-the-Appearances--Roger-Scruton-on-Philosophy-1400 "Saving the Appearances: Roger Scruton on Philosophy"]. ''The New Criterion''. | + | |
| - | * Scruton, Roger (22 May 1983). "The Case against Feminism". ''The Observer''. | + | |
| - | ** Morrison, Blake (29 May 1983). "In Defence of Feminism". ''The Observer''. | + | |
| - | * Scruton, Roger (25 November 1990). [http://articles.latimes.com/1990-11-25/opinion/op-7210_1_margaret-thatcher/2 "Her Virtue Was Thatcher's Downfall"], ''Los Angeles Times''. | + | |
| - | * Scruton, Roger (17 December 2012). [http://www.aeonmagazine.com/world-views/roger-scruton-fake-culture/ "The Great Swindle"]. ''Aeon Magazine''. | + | |
| - | * {{Cite web|last=Scruton|first=Roger|url=https://www.firstthings.com/article/2015/12/living-with-a-mind|title=Living with a Mind|website=First Things|date=December 2015}} | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | {{Conservatism footer}} | + | |
| - | {{Aesthetics}} | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | {{Authority control}} | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | {{DEFAULTSORT:Scruton, Roger}} | + | |
| - | [[Category:1944 births]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:2020 deaths]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:20th-century philosophers]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:21st-century philosophers]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Academics of Birkbeck, University of London]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:American Enterprise Institute]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Analytic philosophers]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Anglican philosophers]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Articles containing video clips]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Boston University faculty]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Critics of animal rights]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Critics of atheism]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Critics of Marxism]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Critics of postmodernism]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Deaths from cancer]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:English Anglicans]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:English anti-communists]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:English classical composers]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:English male classical composers]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:English philosophers]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:English opera composers]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Fellows of Peterhouse, Cambridge]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Fellows of the British Academy]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Knights Bachelor]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Male critics of feminism]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Male opera composers]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Members of the Inner Temple]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:People educated at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:People from West Lindsey District]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Philosophers of art]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Philosophers of sexuality]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic)]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Spinoza scholars]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:The American Spectator people]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:The Spectator people]] | + | |
| - | [[Category:Wine critics]] | + | |
| {{GFDL}} | {{GFDL}} | ||
Revision as of 22:45, 16 January 2020
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
baritone]]Violet is a 2005 opera by Roger Scruton to a libretto by the composer, based on the biography of Violet Gordon-Woodhouse by her great-niece, Jessica Douglas-Home. The composer has said that "it tells the remarkable story of this woman who lived with four men – it was a story about the history of music, the history of England, about sex, and the difference between the old culture of sex and the new one, and how it all came together in the life of this peculiar woman".
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Violet (opera)" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
