Roger Scruton

Roger Scruton
Born	Roger Vernon Scruton (1944-02-27) 27 February 1944 Buslingthorpe, Lincolnshire, England
Died	12 January 2020(2020-01-12) (aged 75)
Occupation(s)	Philosopher, author, social commentator
Years active	1971–2020
Known for	Expertise in aesthetics and political philosophy; editor of The Salisbury Review; leadership of Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission
Notable work	The Meaning of Conservatism (1980), Sexual Desire (1986), The Aesthetics of Music (1997), How to Be a Conservative (2014)

Sir Roger Vernon Scruton, FBA, FRSL (27 February 1944 – 12 January 2020) was a distinguished English philosopher, author, and social commentator known for his expertise in aesthetics and political philosophy, with a strong emphasis on conservative ideology. He established and served as editor of The Salisbury Review, a journal dedicated to conservative political thought, and penned more than 50 books covering subjects such as architecture, art, philosophy, politics, and religion. Between 2019 and 2020, Scruton led the UK government's Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission. His advocacy for classical architecture and notions of beauty persist through his foundation, while his political philosophy continues to exert considerable influence.

Among his notable works are The Meaning of Conservatism (1980), Sexual Desire (1986), The Aesthetics of Music (1997), and How to Be a Conservative (2014). He was a frequent contributor to publications including The Times, The Spectator, and the New Statesman. Scruton's embrace of conservatism was sparked by his observations of the May 1968 student uprisings in France. From 1971 until 1992, he held academic posts at Birkbeck College, University of London, before becoming Professor of Philosophy at Boston University until 1995. Following this period, he pursued freelance writing and scholarship while maintaining several part-time academic appointments in the United States.

During the 1980s, Scruton played a key role in creating covert academic networks within Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe, an effort that earned him the Czech Republic’s Medal of Merit (First Class) in 1998. In recognition of his contributions to philosophy, education, and public discourse, he was knighted in 2016.

Family background

Roger Scruton was born in Buslingthorpe, Lincolnshire to John "Jack" Scruton, a Manchester-born educator, and Beryl Claris Scruton (née Haynes). He grew up alongside two sisters in High Wycombe and Marlow. The surname Scruton was adopted by his great-grandmother Margaret Lowe for reasons that remain unclear. Jack Scruton’s upbringing took place in a back-to-back house in Manchester; he earned a scholarship to Manchester High School. Roger described his father as someone who rejected upper-class values, while his mother enjoyed romantic novels and social refinement, creating a nuanced family atmosphere.

Education

The family resided in a semi-detached home in High Wycombe. Despite being raised by parents who identified as humanists, their household was devoid of religious practice. Roger’s relationship with his father was strained and emotionally distant.

After successfully passing the 11-plus, he attended the Royal Grammar School High Wycombe from 1954 to 1962, where he excelled particularly in Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry. He was awarded an open scholarship for Natural Sciences at Jesus College, Cambridge, complemented by a state scholarship. Upon informing his father of his acceptance to Cambridge, communication between them ceased. Shortly thereafter, he was expelled from school following an incident during one of his theatrical performances.

Although initially planning to study Natural Sciences at Cambridge, Scruton switched on his first day to Moral Sciences (Philosophy), under the supervision of A. C. Ewing. He graduated with a double first-class degree in 1965 and spent time teaching abroad—including at the University of Pau and Pays de l'Adour in France—where he met his first wife, Danielle Laffitte. Around this time, his mother passed away from breast cancer.

In 1967 he began doctoral research at Jesus College and held a research fellowship at Peterhouse, Cambridge from 1969 to 1971. During this period he lived with Laffitte when she was not residing in France. Witnessing the May 1968 student demonstrations in Paris profoundly influenced Scruton’s political views:

"I suddenly realised I was on the other side. What I saw was an unruly mob of self-indulgent middle-class hooligans... 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."

Birkbeck and first marriage

In January 1973, Cambridge University awarded Scruton a PhD for his dissertation entitled "Art and imagination, a study in the philosophy of mind", supervised by Elizabeth Anscombe. This work later became the foundation for his debut book, Art and Imagination (1974). Beginning in 1971, he held a teaching position in philosophy at Birkbeck College, London, an institution known for its focus on adult education through evening courses. During this period, his then-wife Laffitte worked as a French teacher at Putney High School, and they resided in a Harley Street flat formerly occupied by Delia Smith. The couple married in September 1973 at the Brompton Oratory, a Catholic church located in Knightsbridge, but their marriage ended in divorce by 1979. That same year, Scruton released his second publication, The Aesthetics of Architecture.

Scruton once noted that he was the sole conservative member at Birkbeck, aside from a woman who served meals in the Senior Common Room. His timetable enabled him to pursue legal studies at the Inns of Court School of Law from 1974 to 1976; although he was called to the Bar in 1978, he never practiced law due to his inability to dedicate a year for pupillage.

In 1974, Scruton helped establish the Conservative Philosophy Group dining society alongside figures such as Hugh Fraser, Jonathan Aitken, and John Casey, with the aim of strengthening conservatism’s intellectual underpinnings. The group attracted prominent attendees including historian Hugh Thomas, philosopher Anthony Quinton, and future Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who reportedly remarked in 1975: "The other side have got an ideology they can test their policies against. We must have one as well."

Scruton's conservative views negatively impacted his academic trajectory at Birkbeck, particularly following the release of The Meaning of Conservatism (1980) and his role as editor of the conservative journal Salisbury Review. He revealed to The Guardian that colleagues often ostracized him because of this book. Initially, Marxist philosopher G. A. Cohen declined to co-lead seminars with him but eventually developed a friendship. Scruton remained at Birkbeck until 1992, advancing from lecturer to reader by 1980 and achieving the position of Professor of Aesthetics in 1985.

The Salisbury Review

Roger Scruton established and served as editor of The Salisbury Review from 1982 until 2001. The publication championed conservative ideals in contrast to Thatcherism. It was created by the Salisbury Group, itself founded in 1978 by Diana Spearman and Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 6th Marquess of Salisbury, and was shaped by the perspectives of the Peterhouse Right. Contributors included Cambridge-associated conservatives such as Maurice Cowling and Adrian Mathias. By 1983, the journal's distribution was below 1,000 copies, yet its impact extended beyond its circulation numbers.

Scruton admitted that his role as editor effectively ended his academic career within the UK. The journal sought to establish a rigorous intellectual basis for conservatism, offering critiques of movements and ideas like nuclear disarmament activism, egalitarianism, feminism, foreign aid policies, multiculturalism, and modernist trends. In its early phase, Scruton penned most articles himself under various pseudonyms to build the publication's content. He credited the Review with nurturing a new wave of conservative thinkers and broadening the scope of conservative dialogue.

A particularly contentious moment occurred in 1984 when the Review published an article by Bradford headmaster Ray Honeyford that questioned multicultural education approaches. The backlash led to Honeyford’s forced retirement and necessitated police protection for him. The British Association for the Advancement of Science accused the journal of promoting scientific racism, while Scruton faced academic boycotts. These disputes contributed to making his university appointment unsustainable; nevertheless, he was later elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2008. Reflecting on his time as editor in 2002, Scruton remarked:

It demanded thousands of hours of unpaid effort, subjected me to character assassination in Private Eye, involved three lawsuits, two interrogations, one expulsion, ended my UK academic career, brought scornful reviews, Tory mistrust, and liberal opposition. Yet it was worthwhile.

Writing

During the 1980s, Scruton became a prolific author, releasing thirteen non-fiction titles alongside his first novel, Fortnight's Anger (1981). His most debated work was Thinkers of the New Left (1985), a compilation of essays critiquing fourteen influential intellectuals such as E. P. Thompson, Michel Foucault, and Jean-Paul Sartre. The book encountered considerable criticism and was eventually remaindered, an outcome that profoundly affected Scruton. In 1987, he launched The Claridge Press, which he later sold to Continuum International Publishing Group in 2002.

From 1983 to 1986, Scruton contributed a weekly column to The Times, addressing subjects ranging from music and wine to motorbike maintenance. His writings often provoked strong responses. His endorsement of Margaret Thatcher alongside his criticisms of anti-racism initiatives and the peace movement stirred particular controversy. His inaugural column challenged universities for favoring vocational subjects over classical education, warning that this trend would produce "well-informed philistines" devoid of genuine scholarship.

Activism in Central Europe

Between 1979 and 1989, Scruton played an active role in supporting dissident intellectuals in Czechoslovakia during Communist governance, facilitating connections between these dissidents and Western academic institutions. Collaborating with the Jan Hus Educational Foundation, he and his colleagues traveled to Prague and Brno to assist an underground educational initiative founded by Czech dissident Julius Tomin. Their efforts involved smuggling literature, organizing secret lectures, and enabling students to obtain an external theology degree from Cambridge—the sole university faculty that engaged with the program. The curriculum incorporated samizdat translated materials; examinations were conducted discreetly, with completed papers covertly dispatched through diplomatic channels.

In 1985, authorities detained Scruton in Brno and subsequently expelled him from the nation. Czech dissident Bronislava Müllerová recounted his solitary guarded crossing into Austria. That same year, he was listed on the Index of Undesirable Persons and reported surveillance during his travels to Poland and Hungary.

Scruton's commitment to dissident causes earned him the First of June Prize in 1993 from Plzeň, followed by the Czech Republic’s Medal of Merit (First Class) awarded by President Václav Havel in 1998. In 2019, Poland honored him with the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. He openly criticized Western intellectuals such as Eric Hobsbawm for their leniency toward communist regime atrocities. His experiences in Communist-era Prague inspired his 2014 novel Notes from Underground. Even in 2019, he expressed enduring respect for the Czech people despite broader regional political appeals.

Farm purchase, second marriage

In 1990, Scruton took a sabbatical from Birkbeck College and worked in Brno, Czech Republic, where he established Central European Consulting to provide business guidance in the post-communist landscape. He sold his apartment near Notting Hill Gate and rented accommodations in Stanton Fitzwarren near Swindon from members of the Moonies, as well as in Albany, London, from Conservative MP Alan Clark.

From 1992 until 1995, Scruton taught philosophy at Boston University for one semester each year, developing two books based on these lectures: Modern Philosophy: A Survey (1994) and The Aesthetics of Music (1997). In 1993, he acquired Sundey Hill Farm in Brinkworth, Wiltshire—initially comprising 35 acres but later expanded to 100 acres—with a farmhouse dating back 250 years where he resided after returning from the United States. He affectionately named this estate "Scrutopia".

While teaching in Boston, Scruton frequently traveled back to England to participate in fox hunting. It was at a Beaufort Hunt gathering that he met architectural historian Sophie Jeffreys. Their engagement was publicly announced in The Times in September 1996; they married later that year and settled at Sunday Hill Farm. The couple had two children born in 1998 and 2000. In 1999, they launched Horsell's Farm Enterprises, a public relations company whose clients included Japan Tobacco International and Somerfield.

Also in 1999, Scruton and his publisher were involved in a libel case initiated by the Pet Shop Boys concerning statements made in An Intelligent Person's Guide to Modern Culture (1998), which implied that sound engineers were primarily responsible for producing their music. The lawsuit concluded with an undisclosed settlement.

Tobacco company funding

In 2002, Scruton was criticized for writing on the subject of smoking without revealing that he received ongoing payments from Japan Tobacco International (JTI, formerly R. J. Reynolds). Beginning in 1999, he and his wife produced a quarterly publication titled The Risk of Freedom Briefing (1999–2007), which examined governmental regulation of risks associated with drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, under the sponsorship of JTI. During this period, Scruton authored multiple articles favoring smoking for publications such as The Times, the Wall Street Journal, City Journal, and also produced a 65-page pamphlet for the Institute of Economic Affairs that criticized the World Health Organization's anti-smoking initiatives and opposed international interference in domestic laws.

In 2002, The Guardian disclosed that Scruton received an annual payment of £54,000 from JTI. A leaked email from 2001, sent by the Scrutons to JTI, requested an increase in their monthly compensation from £4,500 to £5,500 in return for committing to publish articles every two months in major outlets including the Wall Street Journal, Times, and Financial Times. Although Scruton claimed this email was obtained without consent, he insisted he never hid his financial relationship with JTI. After these details emerged, the Financial Times terminated his columnist role, the Wall Street Journal suspended his contributions, the Institute for Economic Affairs implemented a policy requiring authors to declare conflicts of interest, Chatto & Windus withdrew from book negotiations with him, and Birkbeck University rescinded his visiting professor position.

Move to the United States

Scruton's consultancy work in England suffered due to the tobacco funding controversy. Alongside the 2004 prohibition of fox hunting in England and Wales, these factors led the Scrutons to contemplate a permanent move to the United States. In 2004, they acquired Montpelier, an eighteenth-century plantation home located near Sperryville, Virginia. Scruton founded Montpelier Strategy LLC with the aim of promoting the estate as a venue for weddings and other events. Although they maintained ownership of Sunday Hill Farm in England and resided at Montpelier for a time, they ultimately decided against relocating permanently in 2009 and sold the property. During this period, Scruton held part-time academic appointments: from 2005 to 2009 as a research professor at the Institute for the Psychological Sciences in Arlington, Virginia, and in 2009 at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., where he wrote Green Philosophy (2011).

Wine, opera

From 2001 until 2009, Scruton contributed a wine column to the New Statesman and also wrote for The World of Fine Wine as well as contributing to Questions of Taste: The Philosophy of Wine (2007), which included his essay "The Philosophy of Wine". His book I Drink Therefore I Am: A Philosopher's Guide to Wine (2009) draws upon material originally published in his columns for the New Statesman.

Primarily self-taught as a composer with early guidance from David Matthews, Scruton created two operas featuring libretti he wrote himself: the one-act chamber opera The Minister (1994), and the two-act opera Violet (2005), inspired by British harpsichordist Violet Gordon-Woodhouse. The latter was performed twice at London's Guildhall School of Music in 2005. Additionally, he composed Three Lorca Songs, which premiered in the Netherlands in 2009, and authored the libretto for Anna, a two-act opera composed by David Matthews that debuted at The Grange Festival on 14 July 2023.

Academic roles and knighthood

After returning from the United States, the Scruton family settled at Sunday Hill Farm in Wiltshire. There, Scruton took on an unpaid research professorship at the University of Buckingham. Beginning in January 2010, he commenced a three-year visiting professorship without remuneration at the University of Oxford, where he taught graduate-level aesthetics courses and held a senior research fellowship at Blackfriars Hall. That same year, he presented the Scottish Gifford Lectures at the University of St Andrews, delivering a series titled "The Face of God." From 2011 until 2014, he maintained a quarter-time professorial fellowship in moral philosophy at St Andrews.

During this timeframe, Scruton released two novels: Notes from Underground (2014), which drew inspiration from his experiences in Czechoslovakia, and The Disappeared (2015), which explored the issue of child trafficking in Yorkshire. In recognition of his contributions to philosophy, education, and public teaching, he was knighted in the 2016 Birthday Honours. Additionally, Scruton served on the editorial board of the British Journal of Aesthetics, was a member of the board of visitors at Ralston College in Savannah, Georgia, and held a senior fellowship at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C.

Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission

In November 2018, Communities Secretary James Brokenshire appointed Roger Scruton as the unpaid chair of the British government's Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, which aimed to enhance standards in home design. The appointment met resistance from Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs due to Scruton's previous contentious statements concerning Islamophobia, homosexuality, and George Soros.

By April 2019, an interview conducted by George Eaton for the New Statesman brought to light excerpts from Scruton's remarks about Soros, Chinese people, and Islam that were described as "outrageous." Following widespread criticism, Brokenshire removed Scruton from his role on the Commission later that day. Eaton's social media activity celebrating Scruton's dismissal intensified the controversy. In response, Scruton penned a piece for The Spectator expressing concern over an increasingly intolerant atmosphere toward dissenting viewpoints. Although Eaton later apologized for his tweets, he defended the interview itself without releasing the full audio recording.

On 25 April, Douglas Murray published the complete audio of the interview in The Spectator, accusing Eaton of orchestrating a "hit job." The recording provided additional context—for instance, Scruton's remarks about Soros included a clarification that he was referring to "not necessarily an empire of Jews." Regarding China, Scruton criticized the Communist Party's authoritarian control rather than targeting individual citizens. Subsequently, the New Statesman released the full transcript of the interview.

On 2 May, Peter Wilby, readers' editor of the New Statesman, commented that Eaton had approached the interview more as a political campaigner than as an objective journalist. Two months later, the New Statesman issued an official apology. In July 2019, Brokenshire also apologized to Scruton and reinstated him as co-chair of the commission alongside Nicholas Boys Smith.

Aesthetics

Paul Guyer, in his work A History of Modern Aesthetics: The Twentieth Century, identifies Roger Scruton as the most influential British aesthetician after Richard Wollheim. Although Scruton was educated in analytic philosophy, he showed a strong affinity for other philosophical traditions. In 2012, he expressed concern over philosophy’s decline when it becomes disconnected from art and literature.

Scruton devoted much of his career to the study of aesthetics, holding a teaching position at Birkbeck College from 1971 to 1992. His doctoral dissertation formed the basis for his debut publication, Art and Imagination (1974), where he argued that genuine aesthetic engagement involves valuing an object for its intrinsic qualities. His subsequent works include The Aesthetics of Architecture (1979), The Aesthetic Understanding (1983), The Aesthetics of Music (1997), and Beauty (2010). Durham University organized a conference in 2008 to examine his contributions, followed by the release of an essay collection titled Scruton's Aesthetics in 2012.

During a 2009 debate hosted by Intelligence Squared, Scruton suggested that contemporary Britain has grown indifferent to beauty, contrasting Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus with supermodel Kate Moss. That same year, he wrote and narrated the BBC Two documentary Why Beauty Matters, which advocated for reinstating beauty’s traditional significance across art, architecture, and music. The program received widespread acclaim from audiences.

In 2018, Scruton connected belief in God with the creation of beautiful architecture, highlighting Venice as an example where religious faith inspired remarkable aesthetic accomplishments:

Philosophy of sex

Christopher Hamilton characterized Scruton’s book Sexual Desire (1986) as "the most compelling and profound philosophical analysis of sexual desire" within analytic philosophy. This work played a pivotal role in shaping debates around sexual ethics. Martha Nussbaum, who reviewed the book in 1986, later acknowledged in 1995 that Scruton provided "the most thoughtful philosophical effort to address the moral complexities involved in how we treat others as sexual partners."

Jonathan Dollimore noted that Scruton grounded his conservative sexual ethics in the Hegelian concept that "the ultimate goal of every rational individual is self-development," which necessitates recognizing others as ends themselves. Scruton viewed perversion as "sexual gratification that excludes or negates the other," considering it inherently narcissistic and solipsistic. Nussbaum challenged Scruton’s application of this principle, pointing out inconsistencies in cases such as adult-child or Protestant-Catholic relationships.

In his 1990 essay "Sexual morality and the liberal consensus," Scruton argued that homosexuality results in the "de-sacralization of the human body" because it treats the lover’s body similarly to one’s own. He maintained that since gay individuals do not have children, they lack investment in fostering a socially stable future, thereby justifying attempts to "instill feelings of revulsion" toward homosexuality among youth. In 2007, he opposed adoption rights for same-sex couples. Nevertheless, by 2010 he informed The Guardian that he no longer defended such revulsion against homosexuality.

Religion

Scruton identified as an Anglican and, in his 2013 work Our Church: A Personal History of the Church of England, he defended the ongoing significance of the Church of England. drawing inspiration from thinkers such as Edmund Burke, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, John Ruskin, and T. S. Eliot. His third publication, The Meaning of Conservatism (1980), which he described as "a somewhat Hegelian defence of Tory values," impeded his academic progression. Although supportive of Margaret Thatcher, he remained critical of her market fundamentalism; following the Falklands War, he believed she acknowledged the political importance of revitalizing national identity.

In Gentle Regrets (2005), Scruton found Burke’s critiques in Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) convincing, especially Burke’s distrust of utopian socialism and its abstract assumptions about human nature. He concurred that history does not inherently progress morally, and that social cohesion typically emerges during crises often fueled by a real or perceived adversary—accounting for the confrontational tone in socialist writings.

Following Burke’s philosophy, Scruton asserted that society is upheld by authority and the rule of law—conceived as the right to obedience—rather than abstract rights granted to citizens. Obedience constitutes "the prime virtue of political beings," facilitating governance and preventing society's fragmentation into atomized individuals. He also endorsed Burke’s notion of a social contract spanning generations; abandoning established customs and institutions places present society in authoritarian control over both past and future generations.

Scruton maintained that certain prejudices, though lacking rational justification, fulfill vital social roles. For instance, biases encouraging modesty in women and chivalry in men may contribute to relationship stability and child-rearing; their disappearance could be harmful despite absence of explicit rationale.

In Arguments for Conservatism (2006), Scruton outlined the philosophical bases essential for conservatism's intellectual strength. He highlighted humans’ inherently limited local attachments, with territorial loyalty forming the foundation for governments characterized by law and liberty; extending authority beyond nation-states diminishes accountability.

He cautioned against elevating the "nation" above its citizens, warning this endangers both citizenship and peace. For Scruton, "conservatism and conservation" are intertwined in managing resources—including social capital embedded in laws and institutions—and environmental assets. He argued that law should not cater to special interests; reformers advocating changes on issues like euthanasia or abortion often neglect that law's fundamental role is to restrain ambitions.

Postmodernism

Scruton characterized post-modernism as a denial of truth, objectivity, and inherent meaning, reducing disputes to mere power dynamics. He maintained that although Western societies should evaluate other cultures by their own criteria, Western civilization is unjustly accused of ethnocentrism and racism. He highlighted the paradox that attempts to reject objective truth often result in enforcing political correctness as an unquestionable doctrine while presenting cultural relativism as an established fact.

Feminism

While critical of modern feminist movements, Scruton expressed admiration for early advocates such as Mary Wollstonecraft. In 2016, he praised Germaine Greer for exposing male dominance within literary traditions and defended her preference for the term "sex" rather than the politically favored "gender."

Monarchy

As an advocate of constitutional monarchy, Scruton described it as "the light above politics," offering stability that transcends transient political disputes. In a 1991 Los Angeles Times article, he argued that monarchy contributed to peace in Central Europe, and its disappearance led to prolonged conflict in the region.

Totalitarianism

Scruton defined totalitarianism as a system where absolute central control governs every aspect of life. He contended that totalitarian regimes emerge when elites manipulate popular discontent by dismantling institutions such as law, property rights, and religion that traditionally uphold authority. According to him, revolutions are primarily orchestrated by elites rather than originating from grassroots movements.

He underscored the significance of Newspeak in totalitarian systems: a form of language crafted to distort reality. Aligning with thinkers like Alain Besançon and George Orwell’s depiction in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Scruton viewed totalitarian societies as theological negations. Drawing on T. S. Eliot, he asserted that genuine originality depends on tradition, making conservatism essential amid contemporary societal fragmentation and loss of faith.

English independence

In 2014, Scruton expressed support for English independence, believing it would help maintain amicable relations between England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, while ensuring English representation in all affairs. However, in 2019 he clarified to the New Statesman that he did not personally endorse English independence but suggested that if Scotland pursued secession, England should consider the option as well. He interpreted Scottish nationalism partly as a desire to retain financial subsidies alongside asserting Scottish identity, noting that independence movements in Wales and Northern Ireland were comparatively less influential.

British sovereignty

Scruton was a fervent advocate for Brexit, viewing the European Union as a threat to the United Kingdom’s sovereignty and national character, which he believed was jeopardized by large-scale immigration. He opposed both the Common Agricultural Policy and metrification, considering the latter an affront to Britain’s historical legacy and commercial customs. For him, Brexit represented a restoration of patriotism and the reclamation of control over rural areas and national governance.

Awards

In recognition of his efforts with the Jan Hus Educational Foundation during communist rule in Czechoslovakia, Scruton was awarded the First of June Prize in 1993 by the Czech city of Plzeň. In 1998, the president of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel, honored him with the Medal of Merit (First Class). In the United Kingdom, he was conferred a knighthood in the 2016 Birthday Honours for "services to philosophy, teaching and public education," with Prince Charles officiating the ceremony at Buckingham Palace. The same year, he received an honorary doctorate from the European University of Tirana.

Polish President Andrzej Duda awarded Scruton the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland in June 2019 "for supporting democratic transformation in Poland." Later that year, the Czech Senate bestowed upon him a Silver Medal recognizing his support for Czech dissidents. In December 2019, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán presented him with the Hungarian Order of Merit, Commander's Cross with Star.

• 1998: Medal of Merit (First Class), Czech Republic
• 2015: Knight Bachelor
• 2019: Grand Cross (First Class) of the Order of Merit of Poland
• 2019: Commander's Cross with Star of the Hungarian Order of Merit

Death

Following a diagnosis of lung cancer in July 2019, Scruton received treatments that included chemotherapy. He passed away at Cromwell Hospital in London on 12 January 2020, at the age of 75. The next day, Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed him as "the foremost contemporary conservative thinker," praising his courageous and articulate voice. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid, acknowledged Scruton's distinctive impact on public affairs, from backing freedom fighters in Eastern Europe to influencing Western conservative thought.

Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa honored Scruton as a classical humanist with extensive expertise across various fields, describing his death as a "terrible loss." Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan referred to him as "the preeminent conservative of our era," while Secretary of State Robert Jenrick pledged to carry forward Scruton's legacy in architecture through ongoing governmental programs. Scholar and former politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali recalled him as a generous mentor, and author Douglas Murray underscored his warmth and supportiveness. Additional accolades came from education reform advocate Katharine Birbalsingh and cabinet minister Michael Gove, who labeled Scruton "an intellectual colossus" and a captivating writer.

In an essay released shortly after Scruton's passing, Michael Shindler described him as "the foremost guardian of the artistic tradition" amid contemporary aesthetic challenges.

Scruton's funeral was held on 24 January 2020 at Malmesbury Abbey, attended by colleagues, Conservative leaders, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The ceremony was conducted by Reverend Oliver Ross, with Scruton laid to rest in the churchyard at Garsdon.

Selected works

Nonfiction

• Art And Imagination: A Study in the Philosophy of Mind (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974)
• The Aesthetics of Architecture (Princeton University Press, 1979)
• The Meaning of Conservatism (1980)
• The Politics of Culture and Other Essays (Manchester: Carcanet Press, 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 (Manchester: Carcanet Press, 1983)
• Kant (1982)
• Untimely Tracts (1985)
• Thinkers of the New Left (1985)
• Sexual Desire: A Moral Philosophy of the Erotic (1986)
• Spinoza (1986), republished as Spinoza: A Very Short Introduction (2002)
• A Land Held Hostage: Lebanon and the West (1987)
• Conservative Thinkers: Essays from The Salisbury Review (1988)
• Philosopher on Dover Beach: Essays (Manchester: Carcanet Press, 1990)
• Conservative Texts: An Anthology (ed.) (1992)
• Modern Philosophy: A Survey (London: Sinclair-Stevenson, 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)
• 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)
• Speech on Immigration, Multiculturalism and Nation State Defense, Vlaam Belang, Antwerp, June 23, 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 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 (2016)
• On Human Nature (2017)
• Conservatism: An Invitation to the Great Tradition (2017)
• Music as an Art (2018)
• Wagner's Parsifal: The Music of Redemption (2020)
• Against the Tide: The best of Roger Scruton's columns, commentaries and criticism (2022)

Fiction

• Fortnight's Anger(1981)
• Francesca(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(2014)
• The Disappeared(2015)
• Souls in the Twilight: Stories of Loss(2018)

Opera

• The Minister(1994)
• Violet(2005)

Television

• Why Beauty Matters(BBC Two, 2009)

See also

• Animal rights#Roger Scruton
• Nathan Glazer
• Oikophobia#Political usage

Further reading

• Official website of Roger Scruton
• Articles by Roger Scruton featured in The Spectator
• Roger Scruton's writings published in The New Criterion
• Collection of Roger Scruton's articles on openDemocracy
• Wine-related articles by Roger Scruton. New Statesman, October 2005 – August 2009
• The Salisbury Review
• Audio recordings of The Gifford Lectures 2010. University of St Andrews
• The Stanton Lectures 2011–2012. University of Cambridge
• The True, the Good, and the Beautiful presentation. Brigham Young University
• Roger Scruton's profile in Who's Who

Selected Articles

• Kimball, Roger (17 February 1991). "An Assault on Mush". The New York Times.
• Scruton, Roger (22 May 1983). "The Case against Feminism". The Observer, p. 27.
  • Morrison, Blake (29 May 1983). "In Defence of Feminism". The Observer, p. 27.
    • Scruton, Roger (5 June 1983). "Feminism: Letter to the editor". The Observer, p. 27.
• Scruton, Roger (25 November 1990). "Her Virtue Was Thatcher's Downfall". Los Angeles Times.
• Scruton, Roger (17 December 2012). "The Great Swindle". Aeon Magazine.