Sir Roger Scruton, an English writer and philosopher, especially engaged in conservatism, passed away on January 12, 2020, at age 75. He leaves behind both a loving family and a rich legacy contained within a myriad of published books.

Scruton was, perhaps, one of the most brilliant minds of the twentieth century, though seemingly overlooked, or worse, despised by many today. His conservative political views, coupled with his Christian beliefs and membership in the Anglican church, left him in the crosshairs of many leftists looking to make a name for themselves.

When it comes to towering intellectuals of the twentieth and twenty-first century, however, not many can compare with Scruton. Just a quick glance at the 50+ titles he published is evidence of a mind that comprehended, and even mastered, dozens of subjects. He wrote on the objective, rather than subjective, nature of art in his work Beauty and even used the objective standards of beauty to argue for the existence of God. 

He taught on the philosophy of music and wrote extensively on the subject in his work, Music as an Art. Some of his writings include discussions on architecture. One of his own influences, Immanuel Kant, was a man that he also wrote about in his work, Kant. He wrote often on wine, even publishing a book, I Drink Therefore I Am: A Philosopher’s Guide to Wine. 

He wrote on the state of his own nation, Great Britain. He wrote and spoke at length in response to the modern atheist movement in The Face of God: The Gifford Lectures. Other works include great insights into our modern, disenchanted world in The Soul of the World, anthropology in On Human Nature, and, of course, multiple works on conservatism. He also wrote novels and operas during his lifetime.

With a library as extensive as his own, it is no surprise that Scruton was a wise, intelligent, and gifted writer. He was not ignorant of the position he was in, either. The hatred and disdain he often experienced from the left was something he learned to take in stride. His self-awareness was often on display, like when he wrote, “Leftwing people find it very hard to get on with rightwing people, because they believe that they are evil. Whereas I have no problem getting on with leftwing people, because I simply believe that they are mistaken.” 

Indeed, Scruton seemed to write often with the heart of a teacher that is passionate about educating his students. When reading his works, there is never a sense of an arrogant man looking down on his readers. He harbored no ill-will towards his dissenters; rather, he desired they see their own errors and come to the knowledge of the truth. Many would do well to learn from this example. He desired others to learn, but never backed down from the truth.

A great example of his desire for truth to be taught is in The Meaning of Conservatism, where he defends, of all things, the idea of the family itself. Scruton wrote:

“Consider the family. I have already suggested that it would be absurd to think of family ties as contractual, or family obligations as in any way arising from a free relinquishing of autonomy, or even from some unspoken bargain which arises into consciousness, so to speak, at some later stage. Even as a metaphor, the language of contract here fails to make contact with the facts. And it is because of this that extreme individualists— those who can see no virtue in any arrangement which does not in the end derive from conscious choice— have begun to attack the family, to fabricate an idea of its ‘dispensability’, to declare war on it as a form of ‘patriarchal’ oppression, from which women and children must be liberated if they are to enjoy a freedom and fulfillment of their own.” 

Scruton knew the times he lived in; he knew what he was up against and stood all the same. Later in life, he was often highly criticized and, unsurprisingly, hated. A prime example of most modern takes on Scruton is taken from Harrison Smith, writing about Scruton’s passing, stating in the Washington Post, “Unabashedly elitist, he favored fox hunting, the fur trade, Bordeaux wines and the House of Lords, as well as an old-fashioned death sentence, hanging. Single mothers, gays, socialists and multiculturalism came in for scathing criticism, and he was pessimistic that any art could surpass Shakespeare’s plays or Wagner’s operas. The noisy youth culture of MTV and Oasis, he wrote, was simply ‘yoofanasia.’ ” 

Some of his greatest thoughts seemed likely to transcend any particular time or culture, especially since his thought was so grounded in Judeo-Christian values. In fact, his thoughts on what constituted true happiness in the world are, perhaps, the most poignant of all. Scruton once wrote, “By living in a spirit of forgiveness, we not only uphold the core value of citizenship but also find the path to social membership that we need. Happiness does not come from the pursuit of pleasure, nor is it guaranteed by freedom. It comes from sacrifice: that is the great message that all the memorable works of our culture convey. The message has been lost in the noise of repudiation, but we can hear it once again if we devote our energies to retrieving it. And in the Judeo-Christian tradition, the primary act of sacrifice is forgiveness. The one who forgives sacrifices resentment and thereby renounces something that had been dear to his heart.”

Scruton was a conservative in a day and age where conservatism is thought of as an old evil, leftover from an old world that needs to be forgotten or simply destroyed. He was a Christian in a day and age where Christianity is attacked for supposed bigotry, misogyny, and patriarchy. He stood for objective truth in a day and age where the objective has been denied and exchanged for the subjective. He stood for man, country, and God. 

God help us to take a stand for what matters, as Scruton did.