Common Sense Ethics
  • Blog
  • About
  • My Books
  • Parenting Resources
  • Personal Growth Resources
  • Book Summaries
  • Contact Me

Would You Risk Your Life For Philosophy?

2/12/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
That's exactly what philosopher Sir Roger Scruton did when he went behind the Iron Curtain in the 1970s and 1980s. Scruton believed in public philosophy and free association so strongly that he taught - at great personal risk to himself - secretive groups of dissident students who were denied knowledge of Western philosophy by their respective Communist regimes. 
​
Scruton was a one of a kind iconoclastic thinker. Though a Burkean and a Traditionalist, he frequently wrote about bohemian subjects like art, sex and drinking. Courageous, funny, humble, and a tireless advocate for "the
 true, the good and the beautiful," the world lost something very special when he died of cancer January 12 of this year. 

The Making of a Public Philosopher

Scruton wrote his dissertation on aesthetics and received his Ph.D. from Cambridge in 1973, going on to teach at Birkenbeck College in London. 

Scruton describes a scene from 1968, which shaped his overarching philosophical views from then on. While visiting his girlfriend in Paris, he watched student strikers, known as the
soixante-huitards or 68ers, overturn cars, topple lampposts and rip up cobblestones. For seven weeks civil unrest continued, paralyzing France. “I knew I wanted to conserve things rather than pull them down,” he observed years after the experience. 

The rallying cry of the French 68ers was “It’s forbidden to forbid.” While the 68ers ushered in a more liberal social era, there is good reason to question some of their more radical views, like those on the sexual liberation of children for example. French culture became more accepting of such practices on account of the the 68 generation; only now is that beginning to change. I was unhappy to learn that French philosophers such as Foucault, Sartre, and Simone De Beauvoir ​spoke in defense of the practice of adults engaging in sex with people below the age of consent in France, which is 15.

Scruton found himself part of the 68 counter-movement in the 1970s. Many of his views where at odds with those of his colleagues, and he ultimately left the academy, going on to pursue public philosophy and to publish more than 50 books over the course of his life.


Risking Torture for Plato and Aristotle

Watching dissidents sacrifice everything to preserve Europe’s cultural inheritance inspired Scruton personally. He risked detention and torture in his efforts to help the underground education network in Communist Eastern Europe, and was caught and ejected from several countries for smuggling in banned books. 

Scruton describes one such trip, entering into an apartment building in the 1980s, to attend a clandestine gathering of pupils eager to discuss Plato and Aristotle. Such secrecy was necessary because the Communist governments of Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia and so forth had banned private charity and all forms of civil association. [1]

"The work of the secret police was to control and if possible prevent free association, so that society would be completely atomized by suspicion and fear," Scruton states. [2]


He continues, "The truth in conservatism is that civil society can be killed from above, but it grows from below. It grows through the associative impulse of human beings who create [voluntary] civil associations."

Scruton observed that free association which cannot be controlled by the state is so important because it gives meaning to the life of the individual. "Opportunities are enhanced not by closing things down but by opening things up...and protecting the space in which free association and civic organization can flourish." [3]



Scruton continued to lecture and publish widely after the fall of the Berlin Wall. He was knighted in 2011 by Prince Charles for his intellectual contribution and service to Britain.

If you've not read any of Scruton's books, there are many excellent ones to choose from, on topics as diverse as sexuality, drinking, political philosophy and aesthetics/beauty. Hundreds of his lectures and debates are also available on YouTube.

Scruton was diagnosed with cancer in 2019, and passed away in January 2020 at 75. 

“Coming close to death,” Scruton wrote in December, “you begin to know what life means, and what it means is gratitude.”


~

*Image credit INSTAGRAM/MAUTAKIGUTHI

Sources:
1. Scruton, Roger. How to Be a Conservative. Bloomsbury, London: 2014. 
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.


Read Next:
The 10 Best Philosophy Books for Beginners
Are You A Disordered Philosopher?
Stop Doing This if You Want to Be Happy


Picture
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Don't Miss A Post!

    Sign up to receive updates and special announcements!

    Thank You For Subscribing to Common Sense Ethics!

    You have successfully joined my email list. 

    .
    Picture

    About Me:

    Thank you for your interest in Common Sense Ethics! I'm Leah, a librarian and freelance editor with a background in history and philosophy.
    ​

    Most Popular Blog Posts:

    3 Unpopular (But Likely Correct) Opinions According to Cicero

    Beauty in Philosophy, Ethics and Art: A Conversation with David Fideler

    5 Ways to Counterbalance an Ugly and Barren Cultural Landscape

    How Propaganda Makes us Psychologically Totalitarian

    5 Things That You Need to be Happy According to Cicero

    5 Wholesome Character Education Books to Read to Your Child

    Why is Politics so Divisive?

    9 Great Critical Thinking Books for Children and Teens

    Why You Should Create Your Own Culture to Be Happier

    How to Make Yourself Immune to Propaganda

    ​The 10 Best Philosophy Books For Beginners

    The 13 Types of Modern Stoics...Which One Are You?

    How to be a Badass According to Cicero

    Quick Guide: Understanding and Applying Stoic Ethics in Modern Life

    Download My Stoic Printables For Tough Days:

    Picture

    Watch Common Sense Ethics On YouTube:


    Support CSE:

    Picture
    Picture
    Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com


    Topics:

    All
    According To Cicero Series
    Aesthetics
    Alasdair Macintyre
    Albert Einstein
    American Revolution
    Ancient Greece
    Ancient Rome
    Anger
    Antiauthoritarianism
    Applied Philosophy
    Aristotle
    Assertiveness
    Beauty
    Book Reviews
    Books And Reading
    Buddhism
    Carl Jung
    Cause And Effect
    Character Flaws
    Cicero
    Classical Education
    Cognitive Bias
    Consequence Based Ethics
    Consumerism
    Cosmology
    Covert Manipulation
    Critical Thinking
    Culture
    Cynicism
    Death
    Descartes
    Destructive Behavior
    Economics
    Edmund Burke
    Education
    Egalitarianism
    Emotions
    Epictetus
    Ethical Objectivism
    Family
    Fortitude
    Francis-bacon
    Freedom
    Freedom Of Speech
    Free Speech
    George-r-r-martin
    George-r-r-martin
    God
    Golden Rule
    Good Character
    Government
    Gratitude
    Happiness
    Heraclitus
    History
    Immanuel Kant
    Individual Rights
    Information Literacy
    Inner Life
    Integrity
    Introspection
    Intuition
    Iron Law Of Oligarchy
    Jaques Ellul
    John Locke
    John Sellars
    John Stuart Mill
    Jules Evans
    Karma
    Left-right Brain Balance
    Left-right Political Spectrum
    Liberal Democracy
    Literature
    Logic
    Marcus Aurelius
    Marriage
    Marx
    Mastering Emotion
    Media
    Metaethics
    Mindfullness
    Moderation/temperance
    Modern Stoicism
    Moral Relativism
    Moral Universalism
    Mortality
    Movies
    Musonius Rufus
    Musonius-rufus
    Natural Law
    Natural Rights
    Natural World
    Negative Freedom
    Negative-rights
    Neoplatonism
    Non Aggression
    Normative Ethics
    Normative-ethics
    Objectivismsubjectivism
    Oligarchy
    Parenting
    Personal Development
    Philosophy For Beginners
    Pierre Hadot
    Plato
    Politics
    Propaganda
    Psychology
    Pythagoreanism
    Relaxed Mental State
    Renaissance
    Responsibility
    Rhetoric
    Right Vs. Wrong Actions
    Robert Nozik
    Roger Scruton
    Self Defense
    Self Discipline
    Seneca
    Sexuality
    Simple Living
    Socrates
    Socratic Method
    Stoicism
    Stoic Meditation
    Stoic Virtues
    Television
    The Shadow
    Thomas Hobbes
    Traditionalism
    Trivium
    Utilitarianism
    Videos
    Violence
    Virtue Ethics
    War

    Archives:

    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013


    ​Book of the Month: Journal Like a Stoic by Brittany Polat

    Picture


    ​Personal Growth Resources:

    Picture
    Use this in-depth questionnaire to learn more about your faults and subconscious motivations.


    Understanding and Applying Stoic Ethics In Modern Life:

    Picture


    ​Follow Common Sense Ethics on Pinterest:

    Picture


    ​Join the Stoic Parents Facebook Group:

    Picture
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.