The world lost one of its finest, most original, and most independent thinkers with the repose of Sir Roger Scruton last weekend. Sir Roger was also a friend of "Another City;" we featured several of his articles, and we were proud to have him as an early subscriber to this journal. In his memory, we offer a video presentation in which he discusses what was perhaps his most … [Read more...] about Why Beauty Matters
The Virtue of Irrelevance: An Essay on Education
In a world where it is becoming increasingly unwise to entrust the education of our children to teachers who promote trendy, “relevant” curricula, the question arises “What, then, should we teach them?” British philosopher and public intellectual St Roger Scruton argues eloquently that the supposedly “irrelevant” traditional curriculum of … [Read more...] about The Virtue of Irrelevance: An Essay on Education
How Western Urban Planning Fueled War in the Middle East
The Ottoman Empire, Roger Scruton writes, was not composed of nation-states but of creed communities. Peace between the sects could not be ensured by borders, as in Europe, but only by custom. Peace is precarious and requires constant work and architecture is part of that work. When France was given the madate to govern Syria in 1923, the character of the ancient cities of the … [Read more...] about How Western Urban Planning Fueled War in the Middle East
Beauty and Desecration: We must rescue art from the modern intoxication with ugliness
Source: City Journal By Roger Scruton At any time between 1750 and 1930, if you had asked an educated person to describe the goal of poetry, art, or music, “beauty” would have been the answer. And if you had asked what the point of that was, you would have learned that beauty is a value, as important in its way as truth and goodness, and indeed hardly … [Read more...] about Beauty and Desecration: We must rescue art from the modern intoxication with ugliness
