Over the past twenty years, Roger Scruton has been developing a conservative view of human beings, human society and culture. In this book, he writes a defence of social order, beginning from philosophical first principles which will be a systematic answer to liberal egalitarianism, but also a defence of the Western social, religious, cultural and political inheritance. It also demonstrates that this inheritance is a reflection of the deepest truths about human nature. The tone of the book is positive and the arguments are ...
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Over the past twenty years, Roger Scruton has been developing a conservative view of human beings, human society and culture. In this book, he writes a defence of social order, beginning from philosophical first principles which will be a systematic answer to liberal egalitarianism, but also a defence of the Western social, religious, cultural and political inheritance. It also demonstrates that this inheritance is a reflection of the deepest truths about human nature. The tone of the book is positive and the arguments are recommendations with the aim of convincing the reader that rumours of the death of Western civilisation are greatly exaggerated. What is at stake in the culture wars is analysed. How Western civilisation is heir to a deep conception of the human being and still has the ability to put that conception into practice. The polemic in this book is strong and effective. Much of our present self doubt, argues Scruton, if brought about by the Darwinian theory of evolution. No defence of the conservative vision will be well founded if it does not confront the questions raised by Darwin and if it does not show exactly what distinguishes us from other animals. Darwin encourages us to see human emotion as a reproductive strategy. This is a perspective which Scruton attacks vehemently especially in its modern proponents- Desmond Morris and Richard Dawkins. This the author believes undermines the belief in freedom and the moral imperatives that stem from it.
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Good. We flipped through this book and didn't notice any notes or underlines. Minor shelf wear. Very slight shelf wear to the dust jacket. Fast Shipping-Each order powers our free bookstore in Chicago and sending books to Africa!