Sir Roger Scruton (1944-2020)

I'm currently reading his Modern Philosophy: An Introduction and Survey (1994). I'm enjoying it, although I can't say I understand all of it.

Since his specialty was aesthetics, I've ordered his "music trilogy," as I call it: The Aesthetics of Music (1997), Understanding Music (2009), and Music as an Art (2018) which, as it turns out, is now his last book.

Any thoughts on Sir Roger? Is he helpful as a philosopher? Do you enjoy his books?

Is he especially helpful for believers (I think he was a Christian)?

I recently read his Conservatism, and I thought it was a very lucid distillation of the different philosophical currents that go into political and social conservatism, as well as a very clear explanation (albeit that part unintended) of why conservatism is inevitably a weak and ineffectual ideal that loses the battles it fights. I thought him worth reading for clear synthesizing.

Al Mohler paid a tribute to him on his "The Briefing" show. Mohler compared Sir Roger to the Political Philosopher Edmund Burke.

Sir Roger's wide-ranging writings and YouTube talks/interviews/debates have afforded me many hours of learning and joy. He was the premier English intellectual, appropriately compared to Burke by many through the years.

He was a true polymath. Such renaissance men are rare these days. About to see the complete Ring of Wagner in April and will review his book on that (along with others, especially M. Owen Lee's) before doing so.

In December it appeared that he was benefiting from the treatment of the cancer diagnosed in July. Apparently things took a bad turn and he left us. He was an Anglican. He had some sort of faith, though the precise nature of it was murky to me.

Peace,
Alan

Alan D. Strange said:

Sir Roger's wide-ranging writings and YouTube talks/interviews/debates have afforded me many hours of learning and joy. He was the premier English intellectual, appropriately compared to Burke by many through the years.

He was a true polymath. Such renaissance men are rare these days. About to see the complete Ring of Wagner in April and will review his book on that (along with others, especially M. Owen Lee's) before doing so.

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Alan, I understand you have taken an interest in the philosophy of music. Richard has made mention of Sir Roger's Music Trilogy:

bookslover said:

"music trilogy," as I call it: The Aesthetics of Music (1997), Understanding Music (2009), and Music as an Art (2018) which, as it turns out, is now his last book.

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Have you read these books? I am interested in the whole idea (broadly speaking) of worldview influences in Music, and did wonder if he made a serious contribution to this area.

Richard, if you also have any comments I would be interested in your thoughts

Stephen L Smith said:

Alan, I understand you have taken an interest in the philosophy of music. Richard has made mention of Sir Roger's Music Trilogy:

Have you read these books? I am interested in the whole idea (broadly speaking) of worldview influences in Music, and did wonder if he made a serious contribution to this area.

Richard, if you also have any comments I would be interested in your thoughts

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Not having read the books yet (they are currently floating through the mail to me), I have nothing to say about them. (Rare for me, I know.)

Alan D. Strange said:

Sir Roger's wide-ranging writings and YouTube talks/interviews/debates have afforded me many hours of learning and joy. He was the premier English intellectual, appropriately compared to Burke by many through the years.

He was a true polymath. Such renaissance men are rare these days. About to see the complete Ring of Wagner in April and will review his book on that (along with others, especially M. Owen Lee's) before doing so.

In December it appeared that he was benefiting from the treatment of the cancer diagnosed in July. Apparently things took a bad turn and he left us. He was an Anglican. He had some sort of faith, though the precise nature of it was murky to me.

Peace,
Alan

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Alan, one of the obits I read mentioned his Anglicanism and noted that he had problems with the resurrection. The author didn't elaborate. I prefer to think that, as an Anglican, he accepted it but, as a philosopher, he had problems with it. Hopefully, the Anglicanism won out.

bookslover said:

Not having read the books yet (they are currently floating through the mail to me), I have nothing to say about them. (Rare for me, I know.)

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Ok. Since we are talking about music books, your comments have been "note"d.

On whichever subject he chose, he always had unique insights and an elegant writing style, and is always an interesting read. I recently read “England, an Elegy” which as its title suggests is both an understated celebration of England as it was and a sad account of what has been lost.

He made a great contribution to the traditionalist conservative corpus, which one hopes will have a lasting influence.

On religious matters, he was, as has been noted, a “good Anglican”, in the sense that his theology seemed quite murky. The longest writing I have read from him on religion was the book “Our Church”, which was a sort of personal history/eulogy of the Church of England. It is fair to say he considered the Anglican church’s flexibility as one of its strengths. So, sadly, he was no Puritan. On the other hand, I get the sense he was disturbed at the direction that church has taken in recent years and decades, and from a broad perspective he was a defender of Christianity in the culture. One wonders if he ever interacted with the teachings of the true confessional Reformed faith.