FWIW, my take on Scruton's conservatism: 1. Yeah, Edmund Burke is pretty much right about the dangers of top down change motivated by a political philosophy derived from first principles. (I've thought that for years.)
Show this thread
-
4. But he's way too sanguine about the horrors, both extant and historical, of Western societies. Nothing about grinding poverty, absent life chances, exploitative labour practices, etc.
Show this thread
5. His idea that human beings need to cultivate the spiritual side of their nature in order to escape the vapidities of consumerist society is utterly unconvincing. Not going to to work, mate, that's even assuming we have a spiritual aspect (which we don't).
-
-
6. His attempt to defend prejudice is just a bad argument - not even coherent, as far as I can tell - and doesn't do him any favours. Jettison it, it my advice. It's unnecessary, and doesn't help the conservative cause.
Show this thread -
7. He correctly argues that lefty intellectuals tend to obfuscate & retreat behind slogans and sophistry when asked difficult questions. But conservatives do the same: What about slavery? What about vicious religious intolerance? What about entrenched racism?
Show this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
I can't see that it's that bad. Scruton's emphasis is on the sacred, esp. as intimated through high art, rather than specific religious doctrines. He is more subtle than you think. But I agree with some of your other criticisms.
-
Twitter doesn't allow for nuance! But my point stands - you're not going to mitigate the effects of rampant consumerism simply be telling people they need to change their lives. It needs to be top-down (if you want it to work).
- 4 more replies
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.