Roger Scruton - The Uses of Pessimism and the Danger of False Hope

[@bluesque9704]

Rest in Peace, Sir Roger Scruton. You still are an illuminating light in this world..

[@p.norris3068]

Scruton is such a genius.

[@excelsior999]

When I encounter someone who holds the belief that Philosophy (and Philosophers) are boring, I often recommend that he or she watch (and especially listen) to a video of Sir Roger Scruton Talking, either alone or with other Exceptional People. However, individuals who have addictive personalities should perhaps be warned that they can quickly become habituated to this practice and that, at present, there is no known cure or 12 Step Program which can alleviate this condition. I should add that this addictive habit is in no way harmful to one's physical or mental health (as far as we know), but in advanced cases it can cause one to neglect or postpone some more mundane and less interesting activities such as doing the laundry or watching certain edifying and/or culturally enriching television programs such as "Dancing with the Stars" or "The View." Developing the habit of regularly watching one of Sir Roger's talks can, over time, cause one to demote the personal value of watching such TV shows from "Must-see" status to "Optional Viewing" and eventually to "An Utter and Complete Waste of One's Allotted Time on Earth."

[@brianscoffield584]

Very clever. Full of integrity. Won’t make a damn of difference. Bless him.

[@MrPPreusse]

Not to the vast majority, but to a few it will.

[@ARIZJOE]

David Bowie's more erudite, conservative older brother.

[@merlingeikie]

Bowie killed his liver with drinking

[@lesliecunliffe4450]

@@merlingeikie I don't think so. You suffer from the 'look' fallacy.

[@christinejones9620]

Such skilled nuanced thinking from Roger Scruton. Real depth. Unlike the frustrating interviewer who responds with such a lack of understanding as if he never progressed from Duplo to Lego. It’s clear who had not yet ‘grown up’. Like so many younger academics, full of knowledge but without understanding and without the wit to prepare the ground of understanding in their audience/students. I’d like to see the critical mass of academics, policy makers and teachers with the level of wisdom demonstrated by Scruton (and his ilk).

[@jesperandersson889]

Academics, academics, now this academic is an academic, aware of who he is - someone who charts - at no expense to anyone - this is low-tech - I LOVE IT

[@kzearo]

@T3mporal When has Scruton ever made such a grandiloquent claim for religion? He is a serious philosopher who is perfectly aware that morality can be derived from our rational faculties. But for him religion acts as a binding force within communities and across generations. It instils a common moral code, dissuades utopian fantasies, supplants nihilism and satisfies deep human needs such as worldly consolation. These are all things which he views as necessary for a stable and civilised society.

[@rsaorg]

@westwaytv Hi, if you go to the RSA website you can find a podcast of the event in full including audience q&a. Go to the audio section and search for Roger Scruton. I hope that helps. BTW all lectures are recorded in full and available on podcast. Cheers Becca :)

[@Yourismouter]

I still can't find the whole q&a of roger Scruton at this event on the search engine of your website, is it on your soundcloud page?

[@sicilieli1]

Could you tell me the French word he uses when he talks about Foucault?

[@dixonpinfold2582]

@@sicilieli1 Didn't quite catch it, but it's soixante-something-or-other-someone with the spirit of 1968 in them. Recall the far-left student riots in Paris that year.

[@chiefsittingstill6061]

It just dawned on me when it cuts to the Q & A section where they're sitting down - Scruton looks like Robert Redford's eccentric, intellectual English cousin :-;

[@therealkaren5269]

🤣i have thought that myself! A fan of both these gentlemen

[@Francesko263]

Professor Scruton is today the most influental conservative intellectual. He supports tories and especially Cameron's new vision of conservatorism. I'm not against him, some of his points of view are rights. We must take him as a turn of the tide of nowadays british politics.

[@hairdie]

RIP

[@katiekidman007]

He looks like Robert Redford - What a great human being...

[@mumorini]

6:35 and so on: against Rousseau, music for my ears

[@2chasbo]

Freddie Mac, 1970, i.e., Richard Nixon, President. Credit default swaps were not an invention of the US govt, either. I still like Scruton on cultural matters (which are sometime difficult to separate from the political).

[@sierrawhiskey5155]

US Community Reinvestment Act was the regulation at the heart of the cause of the 2008 crash; the Act was signed into law by Jimmy Carter on October 12, 1977. Granted all subsequent administrations exacerbated the government push for reckless credit.

[@TickleMeElmo55]

T3, you just proved everything what Scruton said about what he is against. >> I'm a thoughtful person I beg to differ.

[@AsifKhan-bv3iu]

Fantastic

[@buzzhawk]

Religion and ethics go better together than a lack of religion and ethics. Religion is a more subjective experience, not something you can say it should, or shouldn't be. Spirituality is part of the freedom of conscience, so I will always spit in the eyes of mini Stalins who think they're so enlightened to tell others what they should believe or not believe in. And your knowledge of theology is crap, it's not enough to be a religious person to be saved in the afterlife.

[@herbspencer4332]

What a smart guy !!

[@locarno25]

@T3mporal I am very sorry to make such a superficial request however would you kindly consider reviewing your graphology when posting comments? The unnecessary use of capitol letters not only makes your piece dificult to understand but is also unsightly. Thank you.

[@2gentrs]

@T3mporal Roger Scruton, if you knew anything of him, is not a Christian- he is, as he says, "A believer in belief". Read 'Gentle Regrets' before you cast assertions about this.

[@wyattwerp10]

@T3mporal...when asked by a companion what the prophet meant by the words 'it is confirmed' the prophet explained that heaven had been confirmed for the moral man and hell for the immoral. Now this is merely one example of the many in the islamic tradition that is evidence against your assertion. Furthermore, Islam states the opposite of your first assertion that religion doesnt ask us to value this life. Rather, what it asks of us is not be devoted to it as though we will stay here forever.

[@mandykhoo2473]

The anti - sound bite. Spare a nanosecond and you might learn something??

[@alfredgamerzzgamers3970]

The world as will and representation

[@wyattwerp10]

The prophet Muhammad was with his companions when they saw a procession carrying the body of a dead man who happened not to be muslim. Those carrying him told the prophet that the deceased had lived a highly principled life and was a moral man, although not religious. The prophet replied 'it is confirmed'. Another procession came along some time afterwards and those carrying the deceased informed the prophet that the deceased had lived an immoral life. The prophet replied 'it is confirmed'....

[@muhammadalijauhar3553]

♥️

[@TickleMeElmo55]

1) I'm not sure where you read this. Maybe you have misunderstood their mission. 2) No. At least in Christianity, most specifically Catholicism, a religious person is no more better than an atheist or agnostic who - if they so chooses - leads amoral life. Those who say they are religious and constantly and willingly goes against the church teachings are nominal Catholics. Whatever "salvation" they think earn once they die will be in question due to their earthly "track record."

[@UncleBoratagain]

Sir Roger is truthfully and totally out of date with respect to the sub-prime mortgage crisis. The crash which occurred some 40 years after the tenure of Carter was so destructive due to the warehousing of risk via complex tiers of derivatives, most of which was under the control of computer programs. Pretty much everything in the 1970’s was on paper, most especially the underwriters financial systems which were less complex by a huge factor. A really obvious error which Sir Roger the Dodger is somewhat prone to. All the stuff about philosophy is of course very interesting though.

[@MarkoKraguljac]

He mentions "human nature" as something relatively fixed and existing. We are mostly reflections of our environment. If that is truth, his whole talk could be quite different and turned upside down. Worth listening tho.

[@chrish12345]

I don't know what Scruton thinks of Zizek but its clear he doesn't stick to Zizek's principle of not treating his new book as a modern Classic.

[@davidgoat6730]

I bet he hasn't seen Shawshank Redemption lol

[@davidgoat6730]

Old mate Andy Dufresne in the end said hope is a wonderful thing and he was right

[@extendedclips]

🎩✨🙏🏽

[@420xHustlerxB0SS]

Freedom is simply freedom from power. No ideology can institute it perfectly. Removing unjustifiable authority may or may not result in equality, but equality isn't the point of leftist ideology. Merely a probable, positive consequence. Animals are free, the dead are free. We say this all the time. There is no need for the misleading notion of "real freedom" compatible with obedience. Communism was reasonably realized in anarhist Catalonia.

[@Nhurm]

Very erudite presentation of tosh by a gent quite unaware (or wilfully ignorant) of his own biases.

[@sierrawhiskey5155]

The truth clearly Hurts!

[@chrish12345]

Do Wagner's operas all end with the end of everything? Think of Parsifal, which ends more with a sense of regeneration and continuity of the events.

[@dannysullivan3951]

Wrong, sub-prime fiasco not caused by minority lending, although they may have contributed. Scrutiny is wildly overestimated simply because he’s an educated conservative. Like all conservatives, he tailors his theories to fit his beliefs.

[@2chasbo]

Fanny Mae was founded in 1938 during the depression, not, Sir Roger, by Jimmy Carter. Blaming subprime mortgage on Carter, and saying nothing about Reagan-era deregulation, is a distortion of the facts. I like Scruton on culture, but his economics is strictly for the 1%.

[@leshtricity]

the naivete on display here is just staggering.

[@sierrawhiskey5155]

US Community Reinvestment Act was the regulation at the heart of the cause of the 2008 crash; the Act was signed into law by Jimmy Carter on October 12, 1977. Granted all subsequent administrations exacerbated the government push for reckless credit. The heart of the 2008 crisis was nearly $5 trillion worth of basically worthless mortgage loans “sub-prime”. This reckless lending was driven by US State Ideology and policy; virtually half of such loans were granted directly by the state (i.e. US (federal) mortgage associations, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) to sub-prime borrowers (No job, No income, No assets.) Between 1994 & 2000 these government sponsored entities pledged to buy, from small, private market brokers, a total of $5 trillion in affordable housing loans; 27 million subprime and other risky loans. Further, Affordable Housing policies led to a degrading of underwriting standards for loans of all sizes. Much of this toxic debt was packaged up into complex entities and sold off throughout the financial industry (including Lehman Bros.) This led the charge to the 2008 disaster! It's a fallacy to conflate this with the principle of Free Markets. The crash was at its heart political indulgence of vested interests and thinly veiled Largesse.

[@ashitano_joe]

His history of Fannie and Freddie is not correct.

[@chrish12345]

he just came out the pub? look at tie undone, hair askew, chirpy demeanour...

[@gennypiero9403]

The ill continent adventitiously book because dragon steadily seal versus a loving wind. old, ratty mass

[@GreenTeaViewer]

Came here expecting some serious philosophical grappling with pessimism (in the Schopenhauerian sense), left after 15 minutes of waffle from a weak conservative of the type whose side got steamrolled by history.

[@MrSvenovitch]

Hey Rog, how's being wormfood working out for ya? I bet it's better than face masks and hand gels.

[@ValzainLumivix]

RIP