prof. dr. Roger Scruton
Biography of prof. dr. Roger Scruton
Conservative writer, philosopher and public commentator
Roger Scruton is currently Research Professor for the Institute for the Psychological Sciences where he teaches philosophy at their graduate school in both Washington and Oxford.
He is a writer, philosopher and public commentator. He has specialised in aesthetics with particular attention to music and architecture. He engages in contemporary political and cultural debates from the standpoint of a conservative thinker and is well known as a powerful polemicist. He has written widely in the press on political and cultural issues.
Roger Scruton’s most recent books are England: an Elegy (Continuum, Books, 2000), an attempt to give identity to the idea of England and a tribute to its values and institutions; Death-Devoted Heart: Sex and the Sacred in Wagner's Tristan and Isolde (Oxford University Press, 2003), an analysis of the musical and spiritual meaning of Wagner’s work; News from Somewhere: On Settling (Continuum Books, 2003), an evocative account of the author’s attempt to put down roots in rural Wiltshire; A Political Philosophy (Continuum Books, 2006), a thoughtful response to the development and decline of western civilization, The West and the Rest (ISI Books, 2001), an analysis of the values held by the ‘West’ and how they are distinct from those held by other cultures. Gentle Regrets (Continuum, 2006) and On Hunting (Random House, 1998) are two autobiographical works. 2007 sees the publication of Culture Counts: Faith and Healing in a World besieged (Encounter Books 2007) and a third edition of A Dictionary of Political Thought (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) which provides a concise and comprehensive collection of definitions for political thought and processes.
Topics
- Modern Philosophy
- Spinoza
- The Meaning Of Conservatism
- Animal Rights and Wrongs
- Arguments For Conservatism
- (European) culture
- (European) identity
- Multiculturalism
- Hunting
Photos of prof. dr. Roger Scruton
Books of prof. dr. Roger Scruton
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Title: The Palgrave Macmillan Dictionary of Political Thought
Author: Roger Scruton
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Book: 760 pages, hardcover
ISBN: 978-1403-9895-12Roger Scruton's Dictionary of Political Thought has been widely acclaimed as a profound and incisive guide to political ideas. This new edition takes stock of the revolutionary political changes that have taken place since the dictionary was first published in 1982, bringing the Dictionary right up to date.
Some 1790 entries cover every aspect of political thought, defining concepts and ideologies, surveying the arguments on issues, giving capsule histories of political institutions, and summarizing (with newly expanded treatment) the thought of major political theorists.
The Dictionary provides a readable and impartial survey of political thought, of immense value to students of political science, government, philosophy and jurisprudence as well as to the general reader with an interest in ideas. It is an indispensable guide to the thought, the wisdom and the folly of modern politics by one of the most lucid philosophers of our time. -
Title: Culture Counts: Faith and Feeling in a World Besieged
Author: Roger Scruton
Publisher: Encounter Books
Book: 136 pages, hardcover
ISBN: 978-1594-0319-46What is culture? Why should we preserve it, and how? In this book, the renowned philosopher Roger Scruton defends Western culture against its internal critics and external enemies, and argues that rumors of its death are seriously exaggerated. He shows our culture to be a continuing source of moral knowledge, and rebuts the fashionable sarcasm that sees it as nothing more than the useless legacy of "dead white European males."
Ranging widely over the arts and philosophy, Scruton defends what Eliot called "the common pursuit of true judgment" against the dismissive attacks of the new academicians. In his striking account of music and its role in moral education, he defends the classical tradition as well as the American popular song, and points to the damage done to the psyche by the new forms of pop. He is robust in defense of traditional architecture and figurative painting; critical of the fashionable relativists and urgent in his plea for our civilization, which more than ever stands in need of the self-knowledge and self-confidence that are the gift of serious culture. -
Title: Gentle Regrets: Thoughts from a Life
Author: Roger Scruton
Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group
Book: 248 pages, paperback
ISBN: 978-0826-04803-30Roger Scruton is Britain's best known intellectual dissident, who has defended English traditions and English identity against an official culture of denigration. Although his writings on philosophical aesthetics have shown him to be a leading authority in the field, his defence of political conservatism has marked him out in academic circles as public enemy number one. Whether it is Scruton's opinions that get up the nose of his critics, or the wit and erudition with which he expresses them, there is no doubt that their noses are vastly distended by his presence, and constantly on the verge of a collective sneeze. Contrary to orthodox opinion, however, Roger Scruton is a human being, and Gentle Regrets contains the proof of it - a quiet, witty but also serious and moving account of the ways in which life brought him to think what he thinks, and to be what he is. His moving vignettes of his childhood and later influences illuminate this book. Love him or hate him, he will engage you in an argument that is both intellectually stimulating and informed by humour.
References of prof. dr. Roger Scruton
Publications of prof. dr. Roger Scruton
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Article ACADEMY® Magazine autumn 2008
The Knowledge Economy
Video's of' prof. dr. Roger Scruton
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