[H1N1]

(09-24-2015 10:41 AM)Phoenix Wrote:  

(09-24-2015 09:15 AM)H1N1 Wrote:  

Roger Scruton

I'm just reading his wiki page, sounds like a very bright guy.

Quote:

Scruton's argument was that positive attitudes to homosexuality in society are socially deleterious because homosexuals have no children and consequently no interest in creating a socially stable future. This basic antisocial impulse that Scruton argued was the consequence of homosexuality meant that he considered society to be justified in continuing to "instil in our children feelings of revulsion" towards homosexuality.

Quote:

He defined post-modernism as the claim that there are no grounds for truth, objectivity, and meaning, and therefore conflicts between views are nothing more than contests of power, and argued that, while the West is required to judge other cultures in their own terms, Western culture is adversely judged as ethnocentric and racist. He wrote: "The very reasoning which sets out to destroy the ideas of objective truth and absolute value imposes political correctness as absolutely binding, and cultural relativism as objectively true."

Solid reasoning.

Quote:

Armed with his Rousseauist doctrines of popular sovereignty, or his Marxist ideas of power and ideology, the revolutionary can de-legitimize any existing institution and find quite imperceivable the distinction between law aimed at justice and law aimed at power.

So he's also well aware of the difference between natural law and positive law and how this plays out in society.

Quote:

Scruton considers that religion plays a basic function in "endarkening" human minds. "Endarkenment" is Scruton's way of describing the process of socialization through which certain behaviours and choices are closed off and forbidden to the subject, which he considers to be necessary in order to curb socially damaging impulses and behaviours.

Interesting. Religion certainly does that. I'd like to think that the generally public are capable of behaving with common decency without priests putting them in mental straight-jackets though. This is, after all, the subjective reasoning (e.g. deferring to a person rather than facts) he speaks against in the previous quote, but yet he defends it here. I don't see how people can suddenly switch to objective reasoning in non-social issues, but stay with subjective reasoning on social issues.

The Japanese aren't religious and they manage to behave in a very socially ordered way, far beyond many religious cultures. They seem to mostly rely on deferring to elders. I think its quite barbaric the idea that we'd have to rely on priests 'endarkening' the minds of children with lies about supernatural beings to maintain social order.

He is a fascinating man.

To address your last point specifically, I would say that whoever wrote his wiki page may not have fully grasped Scruton's argument, which is made extremely eloquently in the 20 page (big type face ) that I posted. I think your argument against the interpretation presented by the Wiki page is an insightful one, but is aimed rather at Scruton's unofficial Wiki biographer rather than at Scruton himself. If you do have time and inclination, I think as a clearly well-read and thoughtful chap you would be well served in becoming acquainted with Scruton's work, and I believe that Scruton addresses the point far more subtly than it is condensed into by the quote from the Wiki.

If you don't have time, let me know, and I will attempt to condense the argument rather more longwindedly, giving room to some of the subtleties of Scruton's argument.

I think, as an aside, your point about the Japanese is an interesting one. I had a Japanese girlfriend once whose mother was a famous Buddhist monk, and so took quite an interest. I would say that there are a number of factors at play in the Japanese national psyche that may explain the phenomenon you allude to. Although there is no formal religion, the combination of a continuing reverence for the spiritual life promoted by Buddhism, a culture deeply rooted in tradition and honour, and a staunch national commitment to keeping Japan uniquely Japanese, has preserved many of the social, functional aspects of religion, without necessarily requiring any kind of belief in the transcendental. I think, if you are able to read the paper I posted, you will find that Japanese culture and the aspects of religion Scruton promotes are entirely congruent, and are in fact one and the same thing. Scruton's interpretation of the purpose and limits of religion fit comfortably within your repost to the interpretation of his beliefs by the creator of the Wiki page, and support your point rather than standing in opposition to it.