History of Ideas Club: Roger Scruton

Send us Fan Mail 💭 Can conservatism be a culture of love rather than fear? In this episode, Jack Thomson explores the life and thought of Sir Roger Scruton (1944–2020) — philosopher, writer, musician, and one of the most articulate defenders of beauty, belonging, and the sacred in modern life. Through works such as The Meaning of Conservatism , Beauty , and England: An Elegy , Jack examines how Scruton sought to recover the moral imagination of the West — a world held together not by ideology, but by affection, duty, and shared meaning. 🎧 In this episode: Scruton’s defence of tradition and “the good in the familiar” His vision of beauty as a moral reality The intertwining of home, nation, and sacred order How Scruton’s conservatism redefined love, loyalty, and loss in a secular age This is the fifth instalment in our Heritage Series , tracing the evolution of conservative and traditionalist thought — from Plato and Augustine to de Maistre, Burke, and Scruton — exploring how ideas of order, imagination, and belonging continue to shape civilisation. 📚 Hosted by the History of Ideas Reading Club (University of Buckingham) 🎙️ Produced by Beyond the Text: The Intellectual Historian’s Podcast 🎧 Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & all major platforms #BeyondTheText #HeritageSeries #RogerScruton #PoliticalPhilosophy #Aesthetics #Beauty #Conservatism #IntellectualHistory #PhilosophyPodcast #HistoryOfIdeas Support the show