Ferenc Hörcher
The late Sir Roger Scruton was aware , what an unduly difficult job it is to circumscribe the realm of conservative political thought. Conservatism escapes the dogmatic clarity and science-inspired rationality of modern ideologies. However, having been brought up in the analytical tradition of philosophy, he was desperate to delineate the conceptual structure of this edifice. This chapter is going to focus on Scruton’s emphasis on the inherent difficulties of philosophical reason when confronting the phenomenon of the political from a conservative standpoint.
First, based on his own recollections, a biographical background will be offered, to show why Scruton thought that it was for him a rational choice to abandon progressive ideology in May 1968 in Paris, and turn towards conservatism. Than the inherent tensions of his own brand of conservatism will be analysed: his alliances both to Kantian rationalism and to the Burkean criticism of Enlightened rationality. The second half of the chapter will show how Scruton distinguished the Aristotelian moral affirmation of rationality, from the rational morality of Kant, and how he argued that in the socio-political world, individual rationality should often yield to manners, custom and institutions. The conclusion will be that Scruton remained a modernist, a Kantian and an individualist, even if he admitted that these features need to be counterpoised by classical values/virtues, Aristotelianism and by the "we" of social membership.