ABOUT ROGER

ROGER SCRUTON 1944-2020

Roger was a philosopher, public commentator and author of over 50 books. He specialised in aesthetics with particular attention to music and architecture. Below you will find Roger's curriculum vitae and a timeline describing some highlights of his remarkable career written in his own words.

Scroll to the bottom of the page for tributes to Roger.

View Roger's full CV

pre 2000's

I graduated from Cambridge University in 1965, spent two years abroad and then pursued an academic career in philosophy, first in Cambridge, and then in London, until 1990, when I took a year's leave of absence to work for an educational charity in Czechoslovakia. This charity grew from the 'underground university' which colleagues and I had established in the last decade of communism. My contacts with the countries of the old Eastern Bloc remain strong and earlier this year I was honoured by the Lech Kaczynski Foundation with the Medal for Courage and Integrity, in recognition of work in Poland in the 1980s. You can read my acceptance speech on the website here. I taught part-time at Boston University Massachusetts until the end of 1994, while building up a public affairs consultancy in Eastern Europe. Since then I have been a free-lance writer and consultant, taking on short-term contracts when necessary. I am currently senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., and Professor in the Humanities Research Institute at Buckingham University. Since 1996 I have been married to Sophie, and we have two children, Sam, born in 1998 and Lucy, born in 2000. 

pre 2000's

2000-2010

My principal activity remains what it has been for the last 30 years, which is writing, and my books and articles cover a broad range of topics in several genres. (Read my novella A Dove Descending here). My serious academic research has been in the area of aesthetics, with two books – The Aesthetics of Architecture and The Aesthetics of Music – that I would like to think have made a small contribution to their respective fields. In addition I have written essays, criticism, autobiography, invocations of country life, novels and poems (I discuss my intellectual identity here). You will also find on this site some traces of my hobby as an amateur composer. (My opera 'Violet' is available here).

I am a senior fellow at the Future Symphony Institute - a think tank dedicated entirely to classical music. I share this passion with founder Andrew Balio and his wife Laura Jean and together we challenge the problems facing classical music and orchestras in this modern day. Our mission is to formulate a strategy for the renaissance of live classical music and to translate that strategy into programmes made freely available to everyone they may benefit. You can see my articles here.

My recent articles include The Liar Paradox and Thinking with Wine, published in The Spectator Life magazine, to which I am a regular contributor. Most of my articles can be found through the articles tab, this also includes videos and podcasts of recent speeches and interviews. You can also keep up to date with my schedule of events on the appearances page. This gives a few details of the up and coming events that I will be attending and contributing to. If you are that way inclined, you can also follow me on Twitter or on ‘Roger Scruton Quotes’, a Twitter account run by John Williams. 

Why Beauty Matters, a BBC 2 production broadcast in November 2009, on the importance of beauty in the arts and in our lives, remains among the most popular of my productions and can be encountered on You Tube in a version with Portuguese subtitles. The BBC does not permit its circulation in Britain, any more than I would permit the BBC if I had the power. The majority of my essays and other work can be found on the website, but if there is something you can’t see please do get in touch. Among recent interviews and profiles you can find that by Eugénie Bastié in Le Figaro here.

2010-2020

In 2015 I published two books, The Disappeared and later in the autumn, Fools Frauds and Firebrands. The Disappeared, published by Bloomsbury, has received wonderful reviews and you can read them in the reviews section. One I particularly like is from Douglas Murray at The Spectator. ‘It's a gripping, disturbing narrative dealing with abduction and abuse but also love, escape and a type of redemption’. It is about England, now.

In 2016 I again published two books, Confessions of A Heretic (a collection of essays) and The Ring of Truth, about Wagner’s Ring cycle, which was widely and favourably reviewed.

In 2017 I published On Human Nature (Princeton University Press), which was again widely reviewed, and contains a distillation of my philosophy. I also published a response to Brexit, Where We Are (Bloomsbury).

Fools Frauds and Firebrands is an update of Thinkers of the New Left published, to widespread outrage, in 1986. It includes new chapters covering the Parisian nonsense machine – Lacan, Deleuze and Badiou – and some timely thoughts about the historians and social thinkers who led British intellectuals up the garden path during the last decades, including Eric Hobsbawm and Ralph Miliband. All in all a shocking performance, but comparatively mildly reviewed and, by my modest standards, a bestseller. It has even been translated into French, and will be appearing in March.

Notes from Underground, my novel chosen by Ray Tallis as book of the year 2014 in the TLS, received the bronze award in the Suspense/Thriller category in the 2015 IPPY awards. It was also nominated for the IMPAC awards. It has been translated into Czech and was launched in Prague, during the Forum 2000 conference in September of 2015. A Portuguese edition is now forthcoming.

In 2018 I published a book of stories, Souls in the Twilight, issued by Beaufort Books, New York, and I am currently finishing a short study of Wagner’s Parsifal, work on which has been interrupted by my duties as Chairman of the government’s Commission on Building Better, Building Beautiful, details of which can be found here.

2010-2020

TRIBUTES TO ROGER

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Sir Roger Scruton, FBA, FRSL.
Beloved husband of Sophie, adored father to Sam and Lucy and treasured brother of Elizabeth and Andrea, he died peacefully on Sunday 12th January.
He was born on 27th February 1944 and had been fighting cancer for the last 6 months. His family are hugely proud of him and of all his achievements. (12.01.2020)

Roger Scruton Was a Conservative. But What Kind? Robert P. George - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/opinion/roger-scruton.html
Sir Roger Scruton Obituary. The Telegraph
We owe it to Scruton to follow his example. Douglas Murray - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/01/13/owe-roger-scruton-follow-example/
Roger Scruton knew the precious value of freedom. Melanie Philips - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/roger-scruton-knew-the-precious-value-of-freedom-tb663hgzk
Towering intellect whose only crime was to be a conservative. Toby Young - The Daily Mail
Sir Roger Scruton Obituary. Jane O'Grady -  The Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/14/sir-roger-scruton-obituary
My friend Roger Scruton. Christina Hoff Sommers - https://www.aei.org/society-and-culture/my-friend-roger-scruton/
Roger Scruton is dead, but his books and ideas will live on. Daniel Johnson - https://www.thearticle.com/roger-scruton-is-dead-but-his-books-and-ideas-will-live-on?utm_source=bibblio_article_page
Roger Scruton, 1944-2020. Flagg Taylor - https://thebulwark.com/roger-scruton-1944-2020/
Roger Scruton, 1944-2020. Remebering the philosopher. Tim Crane - https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/roger-scruton-1944-2020-tim-crane/
Roger Scruton: Conservative thinker dies at 75. BBC - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51084248
Roger Scuton: Conservative lodestar. Danny Kruger - https://unherd.com/2020/01/roger-scruton-conservative-lodestar/
The Hounds in Full Cry: Roger Scruton's Conservatism. Bradley Birzer - https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-hounds-in-full-cry-roger-scrutons-conservatism/
Roger Scruton: A Conservative for Modern Times. Dominic Green - https://www.wsj.com/articles/roger-scruton-a-conservative-for-modern-times-11578955867
A perfect knight: Remembering Roger Scruton. Daniel Hannan https://www.spectator.co.uk/2020/01/a-perfect-knight-remembering-roger-scruton/
Policy Exchange pays tribut to Sir Roger Scruton. Professor Robert Grant - https://policyexchange.org.uk/news/policy-exchange-pays-tribute-to-sir-roger-scruton/
The philosopher's mind at its end. Mark Dooley - https://thecritic.co.uk/the-philosophers-mind-at-its-end/
Scruton: Philosopher par excellence. Anthony O'Hear - https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/february-2020/philosopher-par-excellence/
The Gratitude of a Lover of Wisdom. Nicholas Bartulovic - https://amgreatness.com/2020/01/17/the-gratitude-of-a-lover-of-wisdom/

Obituaries in the Czech media:
More extensive and personal tributes:
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