Roger Scruton: How Modern Culture is Degenerating

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  • čas přidán 28. 03. 2024
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    Sir Roger Vernon Scruton was an English philosopher and writer who specialized in aesthetics and political philosophy, particularly in the furtherance of traditionalist conservative views.
    In recent years he taught courses in Buckingham University, Oxford University and University of St. Andrews.
    In this clip, he talks about how modern culture is degenerating, the impact of modern ugly architecture and why beauty matters. Complete videos quoted under creative common:
    • Sacred Truths in a Pro...
    --
    This channel aims at extracting central points of presentations into short clips. The topics cover the problems of leftist ideology and the consequences for society. If you like the content, subscribe to the channel!

Komentáře • 816

  • @OutOfElmo
    @OutOfElmo Před 3 lety +562

    Such an erudite and well-spoken gentleman. We are diminished by his loss.

    • @acropolisnow9466
      @acropolisnow9466 Před 3 lety +13

      My god how we are.

    • @southafricanizationofsociety20
      @southafricanizationofsociety20 Před 3 lety +5

      Orania, South Africa is prosperous and civil, very low crime. I can’t quite put my finger on it though... 😉

    • @jcawalton
      @jcawalton Před 3 lety +16

      How we need his voice in these days. May he rest in peace.

    • @starboi7677
      @starboi7677 Před 3 lety +9

      Ooo big words look at you go

    • @hi1953
      @hi1953 Před 3 lety +7

      Lol why do you guys talk like that?

  • @denverbrown8904
    @denverbrown8904 Před rokem +40

    Such keen insight and wise spirit. It is rare to see a person be an excellent academic and a deep soul simultaneously.

    • @stevefowler2112
      @stevefowler2112 Před 10 měsíci

      You said what I was thinking much better than I did...Thank you.

  • @curorisluodi
    @curorisluodi Před rokem +135

    “Art for art's sake is an empty phrase. Art for the sake of truth, art for the sake of the good and the beautiful, that is the faith I am searching for.”
    ― George Sand

    • @tonygrowley5275
      @tonygrowley5275 Před rokem +5

      Only artists understand art for arts sake. Art for the sake of the good and the beautiful is just as "empty". Whose concept of beauty are we using? Is a view of ants eating a dead body beautiful? THAT is the point of art for art's sake. Do you like Dali's art?

    • @unstrung65
      @unstrung65 Před rokem +5

      Art for the sake of truth reflects life -- as it is -- not necessarily good or beautiful , but as it really is . Any good artist knows that .

    • @tonygrowley5275
      @tonygrowley5275 Před rokem +2

      Francis Bacon's Screaming Pope

    • @johannalvarsson9299
      @johannalvarsson9299 Před rokem +1

      @@unstrung65 what is life as is?

    • @KibyNykraft
      @KibyNykraft Před rokem

      @@unstrung65 Regarding around 4 minutes into the video : See here on CZcams the Faces of Sapmi Somby Color your past. But it was a hard life with some oppression from the governments in the 4 countries they lived in

  • @vimalpatel4060
    @vimalpatel4060 Před 3 lety +119

    This is about the collective narcissism in Modern society brought upon by Social Media. People are measuring their worth through this hollow exercise in deifying oneself. The effects of these choices are terrible instead of it leading to a more meaningful life what has happened is people are more miserable than ever before even though we have more luxuries than previous generations in human history.

    • @ulrikjensen6841
      @ulrikjensen6841 Před rokem +8

      The narcissism of the modern world is due to the many inventions, especially the camera and the microphone; we are able to watch and to listen to ourselves through recordings.

    • @ricardodelacrvz1400
      @ricardodelacrvz1400 Před rokem

      you only have this degeneration because of the invention of the birth control pill. there are no more traditional values when it comes to dating and marriage. which makes men more competitive for their status giving them alone time to dedicate to their careers. its also one of the few moments in history where people almost freely can escalate in their socioeconomic classes. when it comes to survival, men will always go after money.

    • @athertonken
      @athertonken Před rokem +3

      To pick up on your point which is rarely made (but should be) Gordon Ratray Taylor [sociologist) made point over 50 years ago that we (lets assume he meant the West) have lifestyles that only kings in the past could imagine yet we are more unhappy. He was arguing a "system break" was due, like end of Middle ages for example. Yet it hasn't happened and in my humble opinion we have more and more of the same processes locked in by influence of the world's wealth being owned by an ever smaller proportion of the populations. I agree the social media is now a major factor creating this awful narcissism and conflict in society that perversely enables control through fear and stops the changes we need to stablise and live more meaningfully and hopefully sustainably.

    • @FriendofDorothy
      @FriendofDorothy Před rokem +5

      the post WW2 gen had all the luxuries for cheap. What we have is credit and credit cards.

    • @italianmiltyfriedman6264
      @italianmiltyfriedman6264 Před rokem +1

      in the end times, man will become worshippers of himself

  • @hermesnoelthefourthway
    @hermesnoelthefourthway Před rokem +113

    "Never in the history of the world has there been so many methods whereby one can communicate with others , but never in the history of the world has there been so little of worth to communicate".
    Kathleen Raine , Poet.

    • @SynthwavelLover
      @SynthwavelLover Před rokem +8

      Yeah there is nothing of value to communicate nowadays only in the past. Biggest load of horseshit I've ever heard and it's insulting to anybody that produces content- painters, designers, photographers, musicians, filmmakers, actors, and many others. You'll quote this and then immediately go consume media. Damn if we only lived in the 16th century where access to information and ways to communicate was limited so we could talk about farming or the bible. Now those were the days.

    • @hermesnoelthefourthway
      @hermesnoelthefourthway Před rokem +5

      @@SynthwavelLover you give credence and clout to the quote 👍 we don't need to talk about farming and the bible. Two things I have absolutely no interest in whatsover. We could talk about Gurdjieff and Ouspensky and the attainment of higher states of consciousness and the law of the heptaparaparshinokh and the triamazikamno , should you so wish

    • @SynthwavelLover
      @SynthwavelLover Před rokem

      @@hermesnoelthefourthway For a guy who quotes this you sure have a lot of useless vlog videos that don't contribute much. I don't care if you do it, hell the more info the better (we've all got opinions go ahead and throw em out there), but if anything YOU prove the quote right. Even if you commenting and me commenting is kinda useless. And you've proven me right- I over-simplified the past on purpose to show you what you're doing to our present: making assumptions, using anecdotes, look dude I doubt you care about the facts of the world you just wanna feel smart so go ahead and post the quote and feel smart if you want.

    • @michaelricketson1365
      @michaelricketson1365 Před rokem +5

      @@hermesnoelthefourthway I suppose it’d be better to say that there is little worth in much of what’s communicated rather than there’s little worth communicating.

    • @spiritmatter1553
      @spiritmatter1553 Před rokem +1

      @@hermesnoelthefourthway How dare that person raise topics you’re not interested in.

  • @youngaspireify
    @youngaspireify Před 3 lety +41

    They didn't smile in old photos because of the long exposure time.

    • @davidkelsall6164
      @davidkelsall6164 Před 3 lety +2

      Exactly what I was thinking.

    • @ericgwalsh
      @ericgwalsh Před 3 lety +13

      No, the original tradition was to view a photo as though it were a portrait. Grinning without reason was viewed as the act of an imbecile.

    • @KaiTakApproach
      @KaiTakApproach Před 3 lety +5

      Go ask a Russian how they feel about smiling and then try to inflict your cultural bias on us again....lol

    • @margiethessin8975
      @margiethessin8975 Před 2 měsíci +2

      That’s been debunked. The reason was that a smile indicated vanity or foolishness. Or as they said here, it was a virtue to be a serious person.

    • @youngaspireify
      @youngaspireify Před 2 měsíci

      @@margiethessin8975holy shit are you stoopid. exposure time was literally minutes.

  • @Avicenna10
    @Avicenna10 Před 2 lety +156

    I miss this man so much. I only wish I could have met him. Without a doubt one of the most brilliant philosophers of the last 100 years. And from all appearances, a very genuine and kind man. We miss you Sir Roger. RIP

  • @ricedmond661
    @ricedmond661 Před rokem +110

    I believe the long exposure time of older cameras made holding a smile difficult and increased the risk of the photograph coming out blurry.
    Plus photos were much rarer and thus more formal and people often followed the example of paintings where subjects had not traditionally smiled much.

    • @moslattara
      @moslattara Před rokem +12

      also, people had very bad teeth

    • @Mike-me3sp
      @Mike-me3sp Před rokem +12

      Yep. Don't know why these guys are trying to use that to suggest that people were somehow 'better' back then.

    • @johnnastrom9400
      @johnnastrom9400 Před rokem +19

      @@Mike-me3sp No. It is a lot more than that. People are much more narcissistic now.

    • @Lawful_Rebel
      @Lawful_Rebel Před rokem +2

      @@Mike-me3sp Yes, it was a rather weak analogy.

    • @view1st
      @view1st Před rokem +2

      He should have known this.

  • @stevefowler2112
    @stevefowler2112 Před 10 měsíci +35

    So nice to listen to two wise, learned and serious men.

  • @javierpacheco8234
    @javierpacheco8234 Před 2 lety +62

    I'm studying architecture and i truly hate our current era of architecture. Wish beauty returned.

    • @ghostxl8525
      @ghostxl8525 Před rokem +1

      you will have to pay more for a house and people dont want that

    • @varaconn6708
      @varaconn6708 Před rokem +2

      @@ghostxl8525 Why did they pay for it back when beautiful architecture was more common?

    • @ghostxl8525
      @ghostxl8525 Před rokem +3

      @@varaconn6708 dont know the exact answer,because materials were expensive, land was cheaper, no safety regulations from government and inflation,but just look at all the beautiful buildings from that era, all of them either belong to the rich families, kings or governments, the normal people had to leave in squares designed to sleep and eat, the luxuries that we have now among the middle clase is an exception looking back at the history

    • @travelpk2224
      @travelpk2224 Před rokem +3

      Let us take this word ' hate' out of dictionary. Yes I wish beauty returned.

    • @Bobtek
      @Bobtek Před rokem +9

      Would you fly a plane into a building to make your point though? Because apparently Roger was very "impressed" by that.

  • @spanglestein66
    @spanglestein66 Před 2 měsíci

    So glad to have found this conversation….liked and subscribed ❤

  • @PresterMike
    @PresterMike Před 3 lety +124

    Rest In Peace Sir Roger Scruton! Great man

  • @mustafaT09
    @mustafaT09 Před 3 lety +160

    Many people missed something amazing in this. They are both speaking of a society turning nhilistic. The selfie example was a testament to the nhilist thinking taking place today. We live in a society where people do not care anymore.

    • @oppothumbs1
      @oppothumbs1 Před rokem +24

      Maybe that is true. But these men have selected great things of the past but ignore the horrors. People have abandoned religion because it's often a malevolent fairytale filled with bad dogma and deed and scapegoat many. People lose their sense of belongingness because it was based on falsehoods because we just know more today. Ever hear the expression happy-idiot? Well people were more idiotic back then and clung to biases and traditions.
      People used to have to wait a long time for their photos to be shot and so the serious faces.
      Young and old are disillusioned and have less hope. One can find a lot wrong with culture today but take a look back at older times. It's a double-edge sword. We have welfare for the poor and sick; what did these people do? They took in their sick and old which makes them better in that way for sure. See tricked you on that one.
      Nietzsche wrote about decaying culture and civilization. Elite Leftist Intellectuals think they know everything with their phony ideologies but they are in some ways destroying us. Same for the Right. People dont want to know the truth then or now; we hide from reality and the more you do the better off you can be. Take it away now, imaginary god.

    • @velveetaslingshot
      @velveetaslingshot Před rokem +6

      Oh they care...about getting what they want, when they want it.

    • @beyondonethousand
      @beyondonethousand Před rokem

      @@oppothumbs1
      Your hypothesis is society’s downfall. We are in an anti-Christian, anti-biblical culture now an there had never been a more lost and nihilistic world than the one we are in now. Repent and receive Christ. No other road.

    • @alaskayoung3413
      @alaskayoung3413 Před rokem +13

      @@oppothumbs1 people also overlook the huge positives religions have given. The creation of hospitals. The largest provider of Humanitarian work around the world. It’s input on law and the written word. The creation off AA. Etc etc.
      Nihilism brings nothing positive to the world.

    • @CrakenFlux
      @CrakenFlux Před rokem +6

      There are too many people, yet we are atomized. we are social and tribal animals, which is totally absent on our societies, because there are too many people. when there is too much of anything, its value goes down.

  • @harryaarrestad583
    @harryaarrestad583 Před 3 lety +45

    Miss this man , and his wonderful insight . Live in peace with your neighbours . RIP

  • @kathydent2116
    @kathydent2116 Před rokem +42

    All very interesting, but the reason why people didn't smile on photos in the nineteenth century is because the photographic plate required a long exposure time and when you smile you can't keep your face still for that long. Every smiling face photo would have been destroyed because it was blurred. Photographers soon learned to tell their sitters not to smile. Also, having your photo taken was expensive and so it was a regarded as a portrait, not the capture of a spontaneous moment. Nineteenth century people were just like us, but with different technology. I think if you read classical Greek literature, you will find that they were moaning about how their culture was degenerating. It's the human thing to do.

    • @Ubu987
      @Ubu987 Před rokem +1

      Still, I can't imagine Leonardo da Vinci telling his sitters to "Say cheese!" though maybe Mona Lisa was saying "mozzarella."

    • @italianmiltyfriedman6264
      @italianmiltyfriedman6264 Před rokem

      really good comment

    • @nigerianprince5389
      @nigerianprince5389 Před rokem

      Valid comment. Doesn’t change the fact that the culture is denigrating.

    • @FranklyNorman
      @FranklyNorman Před rokem +1

      Came here to say this. Thank you

    • @kathydent2116
      @kathydent2116 Před rokem +1

      @@nigerianprince5389 Mate, if the sign of a decadent culture is that nobody owns a dictionary any more, you seem to be an examplar. 'Denigrate' is a transitive verb and ... well, I'll let you look it up.

  • @garyk.nedrow8302
    @garyk.nedrow8302 Před rokem +53

    In a nutshell, Scruton is describing the loss of community, the loss of the sense of belonging and interdependence that characterized Western Civilization prior to the 20th century. When decisions began to be made solely on the basis of cost-benefit analysis and efficiency, we sacrificed the human factor to economics, spurred on by increasingly complex technologies that are both liberating and isolating. In another video, Scruton discusses "The True, the Good, and the Beautiful," all qualities that defy cost-benefit analysis. When was the last time you heard a politician or businessman or journalist give those concept more than lip service? When all values are reduced to money's worth, a civlization has lost its soul.

    • @johnstewart7025
      @johnstewart7025 Před rokem

      Which is why the two USA political parties offer no choice. They promote tech change fueled by capitalized.

    • @mikesteelheart
      @mikesteelheart Před rokem +5

      Agree 100%. The media likes to paint us a picture of a fascade of common good but in reality there is very little anymore.

    • @TTTzzzz
      @TTTzzzz Před rokem +4

      Money's worth or wealth and power have always been the main objective of humanity. Only a few achieve it. There were Emperors, Kings, Lords and serfs. Now there are CEOs and workers. The common good has never been common. Which civilisation ever had a soul?

    • @almishti
      @almishti Před rokem +1

      @@TTTzzzz There's some pretty considerable differences between attitudes towards money and wealth in pre-modern and non-capitalist societies and ours. Yes, economics is always important, but afaik the capitalist way of treating *everything* as something to be reduced to a salable commodity that a market can be built around and whose entire worth centers on nothing else but an arbitrary monetary value, is pretty unique to itself. OUtside of it, wealth has been an objective b/c it costs to have a vital functioning society; we, OTOH, make its acquisition an end in itself. Plenty of other civilizations had souls, a civilization doesn't have rulers who actively foster and encourage the arts, for example, if it doesn't have a soul. Who are our rulers who do that? Instead, they actively and aggressively attack the arts as often as not, at very least they don't understand and don't respect them. The differences are quite vast in fact.

    • @TTTzzzz
      @TTTzzzz Před rokem

      @@almishti About souls and art: All works of art are 'manifestations' of the culture they were created in. Indeed, all cultures and civilizations have have a soul and even a heart. But nearly all of them (if not all) required obedience / serfdom. Go against the established state moral and you could be jailed. put to death or at least banished.
      In many countries this was and still is the case.
      For me, art is an expression of the human mind. That mind must be free to express itself and not be coerced by the state,
      If the mind is not free, art degenerates into propaganda which has been by far the foremost expression of cultures and civilizations for at least the past 12.000 years.
      Freedom of thought and expression is a very young concept.

  • @UpTheHillBackwards
    @UpTheHillBackwards Před 3 lety +65

    @7:10 "...that Czech writer who talks about the uglification of the world." Sir Roger was referring to Milan Kundera, in The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Although Western cities were more developed, shiny, and clean than those behind the Iron Curtain, he marveled at how soulless and sterile modern buildings were. He called modernism in art and architecture "the ongoing uglification of our world."

  • @allmertalex
    @allmertalex Před rokem +3

    The reason that people in older photographs didn't smile was because it took around a minute or longer to capture the image as the lens were slow and you couldn't move. It's difficult to smile when you have to hold it for a long time, your cheeks start to hurt.

  • @cyclist68
    @cyclist68 Před rokem +12

    I only discovered Sir Roger two years ago.
    He's a sad loss. Thank goodness for YTs back catalogue of talks.

  • @soslothful
    @soslothful Před rokem +5

    Not smiling in old photographs. A reason I have encountered, don't recall the source, is the slow shutter speed of early cameras made holding a smile tedious. The same would be true of painted portraits. Still, there is something to be said against the risible insistence of constant smiling in American culture.

  • @Lawful_Rebel
    @Lawful_Rebel Před rokem +4

    Well, the reason they weren't smiling in early photographs was because the exposure took quite a long time due to the light sensitivity of the medium at the time, and they had to hold completely still.

  • @BJEPhoto
    @BJEPhoto Před 2 lety +6

    They're not smiling in the early photographs predominantly because the exposure time was too long then. Though apparently smiling was also seen as lower-class, too.

  • @hellobaby133
    @hellobaby133 Před 3 lety +81

    Rip Roger Scruton.

  • @amemabastet9055
    @amemabastet9055 Před 3 lety +95

    "The ugliness of modern society". Well, that is what you get when things have to be made as cheaply as possible. The end result will be cheap.

    • @CornerTalker
      @CornerTalker Před 3 lety +13

      Things don't HAVE to be made cheaply. We choose that.

    • @genzcurmudgeon8037
      @genzcurmudgeon8037 Před 3 lety +13

      @@CornerTalker think about modern apartments and condos. Because of zoning laws and endless restrictions and regulations building anything in most modern cities is extremely expensive. But we stil need to increase the stock of housing. And since we don’t value beautiful architecture anymore the result is giant ugly towers ruining the landscape that allow more people to cram into the city. If they made these buildings beautiful in the current content a condo in Vancouver would be 1.5 million instead of 1 million.
      S’problem

    • @haunterbuythem137
      @haunterbuythem137 Před 3 lety +17

      Our whole culture is cheap

    • @reasonablyserious
      @reasonablyserious Před 2 lety +10

      Ideology is the main factor driving the ugliness of modern society, wanting everything to be cheap follows.

    • @Pheer777
      @Pheer777 Před 2 lety +13

      Nah I wouldn't say so. Inexpensive material goods are one thing, but the cheapening of aesthetic and spiritual values are much deeper.

  • @ericduchess8647
    @ericduchess8647 Před rokem +2

    4:30 One major reason why no one smiled in the old photographs of the 1800s was that camera shutter speed was extremely slow, so any movement had to be kept at an absolute minimum regardless of a person's mood at the time.

  • @user-gw9kq7qm2k
    @user-gw9kq7qm2k Před 2 měsíci +1

    Interesting conversation

  • @judeobrian8856
    @judeobrian8856 Před 2 lety +6

    Could we have another comment on the long exposure times!

  • @jobebrian
    @jobebrian Před 10 měsíci

    @7:14 “that Czech writer” is Milan Kundera.

  • @chrism4008
    @chrism4008 Před rokem +3

    They didn't smile in pictures for several reasons, none of them had to do with if they were happy or not.
    It took extremely long exposures back then to capture pictures, so holding a false pose for 10-20 minutes would have been extremely uncomfortable and created many very blurry exposures

    • @chrism4008
      @chrism4008 Před rokem

      Their whole argument is based on a falsehood, fucking absurd. I thought i was coming here to learn

  • @leshtricity
    @leshtricity Před 4 měsíci

    Sir Roger left us far too soon but thank God for his presence and influence on this earth

  • @Dan-tv1sm
    @Dan-tv1sm Před rokem +2

    One of the reasons that people weren't smiling in 19th century photographs is the that they had to sit still for long periods of time because the time to achieve a good recorded image. Try smiling and not moving for several minutes.

  • @colinjohnson2041
    @colinjohnson2041 Před rokem +26

    Sir Roger’s interlocutor appears to have some interesting insights, and expresses himself with clarity. It’s such a pity that he has been largely cut from this posting.

    • @ClintLock1
      @ClintLock1 Před rokem +7

      hamza yusuf. they recorded a couple full conversations together

  • @coleeandro6110
    @coleeandro6110 Před rokem +3

    Eternal rest grant unto Roger, oh Lord,
    and may perpetual light shine upon him.
    May his soul, through the mercy of God,
    Rest In Peace.
    Amen

  • @mr.s.7081
    @mr.s.7081 Před rokem +4

    Apparently none of them thought of the fact that when your photograph was taken in the 19th century, you had to be exactly still for a while, which meant you couldn't be smiling.

    • @mtom2237
      @mtom2237 Před 9 měsíci

      If that was true, why do painting and statues display the same solemnity. Mona Lisa barely cracks a grin.

  • @ryanwitt5467
    @ryanwitt5467 Před 2 měsíci

    I agree with the solemnity of photos in the 19th century. But a lot of that has to do with the long exposure of photos back then. The photo would be exposed to light for more than a few seconds, so it was difficult to hold a smile for a long time. Photographers asked their subjects to stay still without smiling.

  • @CJBradley
    @CJBradley Před 3 měsíci

    Were can we hear this kind of dicussion today.? We are on a rocky road for sure.!

  • @LightOfReason7
    @LightOfReason7 Před rokem +21

    I do agree with a lot of what they say but I must point one thing out that they get horribly wrong: People didn't smile way back in the day because photography was not as advanced as it is now. Today it takes less than a second to snap a picture, but back then it could take around a minute to capture the picture and the subject had to be as still as possible or it would be blurred.

    • @1906Farnsworth
      @1906Farnsworth Před rokem +4

      And don't forget the expense of photography in those days. People might be photographed a handful of times in their entire lives. Not an occasion for frivolity.

    • @sirrathersplendid4825
      @sirrathersplendid4825 Před rokem +1

      There’s also the question of bad teeth. It wasn’t the thing to show them..

    • @Sheblah1
      @Sheblah1 Před rokem +1

      Totally agree; I think this footage reveals a certain overintellectualisation that in one moment (will get the timestamp later) actually shows Scruton near-lauding the hijacker of one of the planes that crashed into the Twin Towers on account of his distaste for ugly architecture. Yep, overintellectualisation on a superlatively inhuman scale.

    • @maxflight777
      @maxflight777 Před rokem +1

      Such a valid point ! ⬆️

    • @richardforrest1324
      @richardforrest1324 Před rokem +2

      Smiling is also a cultural gesture; people did not smile as much in the past in general. In fact, they do not smile much in some cultures now.

  • @juricahajdarovic5899
    @juricahajdarovic5899 Před 2 lety

    Thank you, Sire

  • @samanthaqiu3416
    @samanthaqiu3416 Před 3 lety +18

    lovely conversation between such eloquent gentlemen

  • @andrewst9797
    @andrewst9797 Před 10 měsíci +1

    Early photography wasn't a 'moment in time' as today.
    The exposure took a lot longer, too long to smile.

  • @twotone3471
    @twotone3471 Před rokem +3

    The old photographs were solemn, yes, but that was because photography was in its infancy, and the exposure legnth was longer than how long most people could hold a smile.

  • @oldepersonne
    @oldepersonne Před rokem +2

    People stood stiffly and didn't smile in old photographs because of the long exposure time needed for the camera to record the image.

  • @Mike-me3sp
    @Mike-me3sp Před rokem +11

    This stuff about the 19th century photos having 'solemnity' and some sort of dignity is BS. The reason the people aren't smiling is because it took time to actually capture the image so they had to maintain a pose for that amount of time. They weren't going to sit there with a stupid grin for ten minutes.

  • @rogermetzger7335
    @rogermetzger7335 Před rokem +17

    In some ways, my beliefs/philosophy is very “conservative”. I’m still (after half a century of considering the evidence) a fiat creationist, for example.
    At the same time, I see a link between the “certainty” to which Sir Roger Vernon Scruton
    referred and “dogmatism” - the tendency to lay down principles as incontrovertibly true, without consideration of evidence or the opinions of others. It seems to me that what many people are rejecting in the twenty-first century is not really theism or traditionalism so much as dogmatism and the spiritual pride which accompanies it.
    I may be saddened that so many people are rejecting some of the things our parents taught my siblings and me but, as Rich Hannon once said, “Most people who think they are rejecting God are really only rejecting a caricature (misrepresentation) of him.”

    • @PhoenixLibertas
      @PhoenixLibertas Před rokem +4

      “Most people who think they are rejecting God are really only rejecting a caricature (misrepresentation) of him.” Excellent and profoundly astute observation. That's in impactful consideration.

    • @rogermetzger7335
      @rogermetzger7335 Před rokem +1

      @@PhoenixLibertas I read your reply early this morning but it wasn’t until just now (11:15 am) that I thought to ask you: Of the people with whom you have spoken about their reasons for rejecting “God”, have you found that they had rejected one or more aspects of the traditions that are widely considered “Christian”? If so, do you remember which one or which ones they mentioned?

  • @HomsianCam
    @HomsianCam Před 2 lety +6

    In 9:55 he talks about Homs (Syria), that's my city. It was one of the most mobilized cities against the Syrian grey-cement Soviet-style regime. So much so that it was called "The Capital of the Revolution".
    In particular, he is referring to a so-called renovation program established by the government (aka: a great channel for corruption) to bring down the Old City (which is completely made of black stone and is super romantic, cozy and nostalgic place), to build on top of it "modern" cement houses.
    The Old City was predominantly Sunni and Christian, and the government was predominantly Alawite, so the Sunnis in particular felt that their nice heritage is about to be wiped out be cement Alawites. This fueled stuff indeed between the two communities.

    • @radamelfalcaogarcia1324
      @radamelfalcaogarcia1324 Před 2 lety

      Damn I'm sorry to hear that bro, I really hope you guys manage to protect your heritage. Fucking government.

    • @dantesic1911
      @dantesic1911 Před 2 lety

      How did it ended?

  • @malicant123
    @malicant123 Před 2 lety +3

    That's a fine point regarding the paucity of smiles in early photography. It is rather false that photos taken today are almost exclusively filled with rictus grins. If we cannot be honest with a camera, what hope is there?

  • @philosophicallyspeaking6463

    Not degenerating, but self-consuming, like an auto-immune disorder in which the body attacks itself for failing to recognize itself or its crucial component parts and its architectural reliance and need of those imperfect structures and their imperfect socially obligated service.

    • @blobboflava
      @blobboflava Před rokem +3

      That is a really strong point and great observation.

    • @blijebij
      @blijebij Před rokem +1

      it is the age if individualism. That also has its downside sadly.

    • @4zafinc
      @4zafinc Před rokem +1

      As a sufferer from psoriasis, I felt this one

  • @pieterkock695
    @pieterkock695 Před rokem +3

    'i want this frozen moment to be a moment of seriousness' is not what they were thinking. There simply was no reason to smile on a photo for them. People smile when something funny happens or when your there is a special moment of happiness or a moment where you want to show someone you mean no harm or aggression. None of it is really happening when someone takes your photo....

  • @anhleroy
    @anhleroy Před rokem +1

    What he says at 4:20 about people not smiling in the 19th century photos I would think is partially about the fact you had to sit there for a while to get the exposure on a photo back then. It’s hard to smile for very long. I

  • @brileyvandyke5792
    @brileyvandyke5792 Před rokem +25

    A intensely brilliant man of our times now gone. Rest his soul.

  • @thorfox3562
    @thorfox3562 Před rokem +5

    Great discussion thank you 🙏.

  • @JanPBtest
    @JanPBtest Před 3 lety +11

    3:46 There is actually a very simple explanation of that: in those days the photographic exposure times were in _minutes._ And it's simply very hard to maintain a smile for that length of time without moving or blurring the picture.

    • @sweedlepipe
      @sweedlepipe Před rokem

      I agree. I have read about that too.

  • @aaronmarshall
    @aaronmarshall Před rokem +2

    They had those solemn faces in old photographs because the chemical process and film didn't allow them to do fast shutters. The exposures had to be for several seconds. It's easier to hold a serious neutral face than it is to smile for that long.

  • @nickslingerland4155
    @nickslingerland4155 Před rokem +1

    3:48 "none of them are smiling". They didn't smile because when they took those older photos they had to stand one spot without moving for a bit or the picture would be blurred. Also being sculpted sometimes they had to stand in the same spot for hours

  • @wmfife1
    @wmfife1 Před rokem +5

    When it first appeared, "Modern" architecture was for the most part tasteful and attractive. However, in decades since things have run completely out of control. I have witnessed examples firsthand that would turn the unprepared to stone.

    • @soslothful
      @soslothful Před rokem

      Examples?

    • @wmfife1
      @wmfife1 Před rokem

      @@soslothful Too many to name. Best starter - the beach house of Michael Jordan near Destin, FL. If you can still find a photo of it.

    • @wmfife1
      @wmfife1 Před rokem

      ​@@soslothful Unable to load image. Try searching: Michael Jordan, Destin, FL beach house.

    • @soslothful
      @soslothful Před rokem

      @@wmfife1 I found post on YT which was somewhat overly long and not engaging enough to watch in its entirety. Aesthetically it seems a bit too much. I do not have any aesthetic or architectural vocabulary to make a meaningful comment so I'll just say it doesn't seem homey. I was though, quite pleased to see Michael has taken up the delightful habit of cigar smoking.
      It has always seemed very odd to me that the income and similar financial information about celebrities is made public.

    • @costakeith9048
      @costakeith9048 Před rokem

      If you consider Art Deco to be modern, and I suppose it is insofar as it is a product of the Modern Era, then I tend to agree; it's not my favorite style, but it certainly has its virtues and some of it can be quite attractive. But any post-war architecture is pretty universally awful.

  • @blueinfinite5940
    @blueinfinite5940 Před rokem

    Who is the interviewer??

  • @fluentpiffle
    @fluentpiffle Před rokem +3

    Degeneration and deterioration are aspects of existence, as, in reality, all things are in a state of constant change. It will never be possible for the King Canutes of the world to stop this from occurring..

  • @southafricanizationofsociety20

    Orania, South Africa is prosperous and civil, very low crime. I can’t quite put my finger on it though... 😉

    • @Hannodb1961
      @Hannodb1961 Před 3 lety +11

      Christian values. You can't have a free and ordered society without shared common values. Without that, you either have ordered tyranny, or chaotic freedom, neither of which is conducive to prosperity.
      I don't know when last you've been in Orania, but the town has really been booming lately.

    • @Hannodb1961
      @Hannodb1961 Před 3 lety +5

      @T J Yes, large swats of South Africa is Christian, but none of it is Christian only, and that's the point. South Africa is a multicultural, multireligious society, its constitution does not recognise any religion being true over another. Therefore, a kind of weak secular hegemony dominate the social-political discourse. Without a common religious core, there is no moral foundation on which consensus could be found. South Africa is becoming a weak state, precisely because it has no internal coherence, values, worldview or vision for the future. Christian values is the difference between the American revolution that immediately became an ordered, prosperous state, and the French revolution, which turned into a blood bath of extremism, followed by a century of instability.

    • @kuberanproperties3069
      @kuberanproperties3069 Před 3 lety

      Maybe its the magic dirt?

    • @thepielife
      @thepielife Před 3 lety

      @T J oh yeah? whereabouts, might I ask?

    • @victorrenevaldiviasoto9728
      @victorrenevaldiviasoto9728 Před 3 lety +1

      Same for my town area of Mexico with non-politically-correct ethnic and cultural origins. We live in a small paradise surrounded by crime.

  • @acropolisnow9466
    @acropolisnow9466 Před 3 lety +11

    Scruton is top drawer.

  • @bendewet2459
    @bendewet2459 Před 10 měsíci +1

    Nothing last forever.We must adapt or die

  • @Treviscoe
    @Treviscoe Před 9 měsíci

    Wasn't one reason why early photographs of people didn't show them smiling was that it took a long time back then to pose for and take a photograph of someone, and so the person / people being photographed had to remain immobile for that time?

  • @mhurleymh
    @mhurleymh Před rokem +1

    One of the things that has regressed is that of the childhood experience. The lack of opportunities for kids to explore.
    They are indoors playing on PlayStation all day.

  • @OddityDK
    @OddityDK Před rokem +2

    Maybe none of the people in early photographs were smiling because photographs took a long time to take. Keeping a smile on your face for 20 seconds without moving a muscle is hard, if not impossible.
    Maybe they tried it, but it always ended up blurry.

    • @davidbull7210
      @davidbull7210 Před rokem +1

      This is also true. The daguerreotype camera took an age to expose.

  • @VVeltanschauung187
    @VVeltanschauung187 Před 2 lety +5

    digging that 80s david bowie cosplay

  • @dawnduskwinter
    @dawnduskwinter Před 3 lety +18

    I get sick of models looking miserable....and young women looking like porn stars.......holding their cameras...

  • @enricosanchez894
    @enricosanchez894 Před rokem +1

    It seems everybody left a comment about why people didn't smile as much in older photos without reading the other comments, most of which said the exact same thing. I have seen older photos of smiling people, most of whom were outlaws.

  • @victoriangirl83
    @victoriangirl83 Před 2 měsíci

    People didn't smile in old photos because one had to be perfectly still for a long period of time and it was difficult to keep a smile for that long. That is due to the fact that all photography was long exposure.

  • @benridge6570
    @benridge6570 Před 10 měsíci

    Simply put, say no. Think for yourself
    Take responsibility for yourself .

  • @joshuakeeler82
    @joshuakeeler82 Před 3 lety +7

    "A tower to reach into heaven"

  • @brianbadonde8700
    @brianbadonde8700 Před 8 měsíci

    spot on about architecture

  • @larrywhitlock8755
    @larrywhitlock8755 Před rokem

    People in 19th century photographs had to remain very still for an extended period in order to avoid blurring of the image which is why they are not smiling.

  • @IloveDoubleD
    @IloveDoubleD Před 3 lety +30

    What is modern culture? It takes centuries to create a culture. Decades at the very least. Nothing in modern society has achieved anything of value. People have devolved into their technology staring at tiny little screens. I think because they are frightened. Thank the push towards diversity which is not a strength but a detriment to society, all societies.

    • @radamelfalcaogarcia1324
      @radamelfalcaogarcia1324 Před 2 lety +5

      In fact, I wouldn't consider "modern culture" a separate culture. Just like you said, modern society hasn't achieved much, and therefore it can't be considered a culture, doing otherwise would eulogize a very precarious lifestyle, look at Tik Tok for instance, do you consider that to be something that belongs to a culture? That's not culture, its the reflection of our idleness as a society.

    • @loganleatherman7647
      @loganleatherman7647 Před rokem +1

      “Thank the push toward diversity…”
      And where exactly did this non sequitur come from?

    • @dandare1001
      @dandare1001 Před rokem

      @@loganleatherman7647 It came from his large intestine, I believe.

    • @soslothful
      @soslothful Před rokem +1

      yet here you are, making use of modern technology. Do you have electronics in your home? Efficient means of travel? Comfortable home cooling and heating? Modern medical and dental care? Reliable food sources?
      Why is diversity a detriment?

    • @dandare1001
      @dandare1001 Před rokem

      soslothful had his/her comment cancelled by the Right. A pity. Jordan Peterson foolishly thinks it's only the Left that does this.

  • @rklos11
    @rklos11 Před rokem +2

    Every generation tends to say this about younger generation. Although...social media is distracting and has accelerated the perceived or actual degeneration.

    • @miaulersbirds2210
      @miaulersbirds2210 Před rokem

      The biggest problem with social media is to do with the way that disinformation tends to spread. Sensation always travels faster than the truth due to people's willingness to pass on the sensational (due to the 'feel good' hit). Historically, this could only spread so fast before hitting the wall of the actual considered situation. Now, you can saturate the world in a day. By the time consideration and care has time to come round and the actual situation is evaluated, it's facing a huge demographic emotionally invested in the falsehood (sometimes extremely aggressively).

  • @djw9985
    @djw9985 Před rokem +1

    The reason people did not smile on old photographs is because it took so long to take the photo.
    So people could not hold a smile for that long.

  • @danieljohnson1924
    @danieljohnson1924 Před 10 měsíci +1

    Shaykh Hamza mentions that schools in the Islamic world were traditionally very beautiful. A good example is Madrasah Ben Yousef in Marakesh; one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever been in.

  • @mauavidela9259
    @mauavidela9259 Před 2 měsíci

    Excelente!

  • @apu_apustaja
    @apu_apustaja Před rokem +1

    His words at the very end were the most interesting (about joint possession). He knows that Islam in the UK very much has a "winner takes all" form.

  • @reggie18b
    @reggie18b Před rokem +2

    The thing that strikes me about old photos is how black and white people were in the 19th century. It's like their entire skin tones and clothing consisted only of black, white and grey, or occasionally sepia.
    I think it must be something to do with how serious people were back then. People probably only started getting pink or brown skin and coloured clothing in the late 20th century, when people started becoming frivolous and silly.
    I think we should go back to being black and white. I think the amish still do it. and they are all nice people.

  • @brucehamilton5609
    @brucehamilton5609 Před rokem +5

    What exactly do you have to give up to live on peaceful terms with someone who marries one of their own sex?

    • @loganleatherman7647
      @loganleatherman7647 Před rokem +3

      MuH rElIgIoUs FrEeDoMs!!!

    • @michaelricketson1365
      @michaelricketson1365 Před rokem +1

      If someone violates what you consider to be moral, there is no cost to you? How much are you willing to put up with?

    • @brucehamilton5609
      @brucehamilton5609 Před rokem +1

      But what precisely is the cost to you? Hurt feelings only? We must all, at all times and in all places, work to counter our intolerance, arrogance, and ignorance.

    • @michaelricketson1365
      @michaelricketson1365 Před rokem

      @@brucehamilton5609 We don’t have to be personally involved in something to care. An atrocity anywhere gets our attention.

    • @brucehamilton5609
      @brucehamilton5609 Před rokem +1

      One might care and yet remain on peaceful terms with others. It is difficult not to remark atrocities - acts of extreme cruelty. Surely you're not characterising gay marriage as an atrocity, are you?

  • @quakers200
    @quakers200 Před rokem +2

    Early photographs had long exposure times. It is much harder to hold a smile without looking awkward than a neutral expression. A photograph was important, a real document people dressed up. The ancient Egyptians were talking about the good old days and society falling apart, as true now as it was then? The pace of change is astounding. My great grandfather would have had more in common with the fifteenth century than with the twenty first century. A more than doubling of the human population in my lifetime may very well be the last time such growth can take place without dire consequences some of which is just now being felt in a major way in spite of clear warnings as far back as the 1970s. Any imagined moral decay pales in comparison to the environmental degradation and the fight over limited resources to take place in the coming decades, in my opinion.

    • @ohydekszalej
      @ohydekszalej Před rokem

      I wonder what were his views on capitalism. I bet he would be wholeheartedly support car industry destroying plans for livable, walkable cities...
      Also - old fart that cannot comprehend that other people can have different taste. This is symptomatic for conservatives - lack of ability to view world from viewpoint of others.

    • @DuncanFer1
      @DuncanFer1 Před rokem

      But people mostly was surprised by the camera - not thinking how do I look? Because they would never see the picture again. czcams.com/video/jDoU45QK8qo/video.html

    • @BirdTurdMemes
      @BirdTurdMemes Před rokem

      Well Ancient Egyptian society did fall apart in the end, so there was some foresight.

  • @TheCrusaderRabbits
    @TheCrusaderRabbits Před 3 lety +4

    RIP Roger

  • @chaztruog5448
    @chaztruog5448 Před rokem +2

    People didn't smile in 19th Century photos because of long exposure times. Not a mystery.

  • @kittykatzcenteno7160
    @kittykatzcenteno7160 Před rokem +1

    WE MISS YOU. .....

  • @stereomagic1
    @stereomagic1 Před rokem

    I agree with most of what Scruton is talking about...but he is lamenting values that are long lost, bless him. I had the fortune to stumble upon W. Somerset Maugham's delightful 1930 novel 'Cakes and Ale' this very week and I recommend it to you all. It touches on many of the themes in this clip and I defy you find a more untoward and comely heroine than Rosie Driffield. Remain amazing, folks x

  • @johnlawrence2757
    @johnlawrence2757 Před rokem +4

    At what level does corruption begin to insinuate into the human psyche?
    I have yet, in my long and variegated life, to meet a single individual who did not believe that you could combine a life devoted to material ambitions with a dedication to religious principle. Every institutional religion encourages this attitude which is why religious institutions are among the richest in the community. And here we have academics talking about what the media moguls want them to talk about, and being paid fat fees for doing so, as well as being allowed to promote their latest publications.
    So “you cannot serve God and Mammon” becomes a meaningless cliché instead of an uncompromisable principal of real life.
    Maharishi Mahesh Yogi makes it abundantly clear that higher levels of consciousness can only be maintained (in which life is lived according to the absolute laws of nature) by conscious renunciation of the values and ambitions of the mundane world.I never met anyone in the movement who supported this perception; indeed the TM movement today goes to great lengths to conceal Maharishi’s true teaching from both the general public and its own full-time members.
    So in the context of this state of hypocrisy and self-deception the pious bleatings of well-fed academics about the decline of spiritual values in modern society has a hollow ring since it is they themselves who are spear-heading this degradation at the behest of their paymasters the leaders of the capitalist world.

    • @qazattack4
      @qazattack4 Před rokem

      What do you think about the monks, nuns, hermits, ascetics, stylites, holy fools, martyrs, etc? The church has had countless people of this sort throughout the ages and still does today.

    • @johnlawrence2757
      @johnlawrence2757 Před rokem

      There is a wonderful portrait in London’s National Gallery of a man who has been a monk for many years. Rembrandt has truly captured the essence of the man with his legendary insight, sensitivity and profundity: I would invite you to go and see it! There’s plenty of other great work in the NG in case you think going to a gallery to see one picture is not an economic use of your time

  • @racine09
    @racine09 Před rokem

    people didn't smile in early photography because the time needed for an exposure was so long that it was necessary to keep as still as possible.Maintaining a smile would have been very uncomfortable.

  • @Eazy_Danny
    @Eazy_Danny Před rokem +2

    "Our whole culture is based on the proliferation of images, meaningless images" to rephrase it - our whole culture is bases on the proliferation of self-centered, egoic, self-aggrandizing images which only leads to suffering and division.

  • @mattholsen7060
    @mattholsen7060 Před rokem +2

    Hmmm. I hear these folks saying, although they don't mean to, that Religious faith is hopelessly obsolete. I tend to agree.

  • @normanleach5427
    @normanleach5427 Před rokem

    Leaning into certain theological tennents which form a belief structure is quite different from the on-going experience of relying on faith to express an open loving fluidity. Sponteneous wisdom is not static, rigid or "frozen". All too often, the semblance of 'orthodoxy' is submerged in stultified language. Spirituality is not a capitulation to a narrative; that is prescriptive religiosity. Through humility the gracious present readilly recognizes the nature of religious instruction, the literal to figurative understanding of a given narrtative as an interpretation of scripture, not as dogma. Here in resides an ontological esoterica which is predisposed to offer the subtlety of associative 'signage and mapping' duly noted for its intended worth -- to point the way as a means to an experiential arrival in Being. The seriousness, the agency and authenticity of humility's charge is both lighthearted, appropriate and for the attentive, a benevolent venture commensurate with a potentially shared or Holy immersion in Life, which is to say, our Qualitative Rapport. "Go in Peace" is no cliche but rather, an astonishing gift and our greatest opportunity.

  • @jacksprat1124
    @jacksprat1124 Před rokem +2

    Just stumbled on this. Interesting talk which IMO, illustrates the struggle to advance from the ancient religions to the realizations of today's modern world's "blessing and sins." It's quite a shock to many. When they speak of things that must not be changed, I feel they are speaking mainly of these old religions that ruled through fear and promise to regulate human activity. Compare the supposed words of all the original "prophets" to the "religion" developed from those prophets. They are nowhere near the same thing. The Prophets speak of the simplicity of an enlightened life where the religion sets the rules, penalties/rewards and hierarchies to maintain a layer of government enforced with the fear of eternal suffering in Hell and the joy of Heaven, complete with gold everywhere, harps and wings, which i imagine appealed to the illiterate, poor, overworked peasant of those ancient times. However, now we have sent man to the moon and with amazing technologies seen deep into far space, we see no version of a "God" or a Heaven or Hell. Reality comes upon us to be dealt with by resistance or adaptation. Because it is the "Adaptable" who survive we must adapt to the reality we have created or change it. If there is no supernatural being in some dimension, then what is to be our guide? What is to keep us from complete anarchy to the point we destroy ourselves, which, by the way, is the direction we're moving. What to do? For me, going back to the original prophets, pre-religion, as well as the modern "prophets" the answer becomes obvious. We have outgrown establishment "religion" and must find it in ourselves, in our communities, maybe even our nations, the path forward. One of the modern Prophet's, Thoreau wrote "In wildness is the preservation of the world." But we have used the world to create our comforts, pleasures and safety with no regard for future consequences. As a result we have also created diseases, pollution, ennui and Global Warming that threatens our existence as we know and require. I believe humanity today is in a true race between evolution and extinction and will take a form of "responsible enlightenment" beyond the ancient religions if the human race is to survive.

    • @italianmiltyfriedman6264
      @italianmiltyfriedman6264 Před rokem

      Global warming doesnt threaten our existence. This is a myth that conceals reality.
      Gods hand is even more apparent the more advanced we gat and can see the smaller aspects of the quantum realm, how can things be so perfectly put together by chance?
      This requires no more faith in God as an advanced culture vs ancient culture.
      Technology is too advanced for our species to become extinct. Mankind is the 1st species to effectively control his own evolution.

    • @jacksprat1124
      @jacksprat1124 Před rokem

      @@italianmiltyfriedman6264 - "...we have also created diseases, pollution, ennui and Global Warming that threatens our AS WE KNOW AND REQUIRE. This doesn't necessarily mean the end of humanity. It meant the end as we know it, meaning if the states that produce most of our food suffer years of drought or severe flood, or other destructive weather, your choice of food at the grocery store may be limited or if really severe, run out. NASA compared pictures of Lake Mead which supplies much of the South West with water for drinking, cleaning and crops. It's been gpooing steadily down to where it is now at 25% at capacity. Lowest since it was first created with the dam in the 1930's. I thinkwe must not wait for some ancient God in the sky to save us and soi far we have refused to use any technology to change Global Warming. Instead we develop technologies to develop more efficient machines to lower the output of global warming gasses. But world population , including the USA, is increasing. So whatever technologies we produce to ameliorate global warming today, won't be enough tomorrow. So we'll always be dealing with crises, not the basic problem. As for the "perfection" of the universe, it's explained by science, not some God we created to allay fears of death and justify subordination to an aristocracy a few thousand years ago. Either WE (humanity) deal directly and efficiently with Global Warning and very soon or wait for God to do it for us. I choose we do it or we suffer our ignorance.

  • @throckmortensnivel2850
    @throckmortensnivel2850 Před 3 měsíci

    As noted by someone below, early photography was more challenging than modern day. Lens speeds were nothing like what they are today, and photographers most likely told subjects to hold still for the shot. Holding a smile doesn't work. In any case, images of people have been around for thousansd of years. Even selfies. Some of the earlist art was simply people holding their hands on a surface, then throwing chalk or some other colourant, leaving behind an impression of their hand. It's also true that most generations think the new generation is going to hell in a handbasket. That goes at least as far back as the Greeks, and probably a lot further. Humans are still here, so despite the apparent degedation of the culture, it seems humans are pretty resilient. And just by the way, wasn't it the vaunted European culture that had two huge wars in a period of thirty years, that killed a combined thirty or forty million people. Now there's a serious culture!

  • @BloggerMusicMan
    @BloggerMusicMan Před rokem +1

    The person interviewing Scruton is off-base when it comes to the photograph story I think. Part of the reason they wanted to come off serious in those old photographs wasn't necessarily because they wanted to be serious people, but because film and photography was expensive and rare back in those times and they wanted to make those pictures count.
    Nowadays, film and photography is so easy and disposable that you can afford to take 10 shots of the same place and the same people, with a variety of different kinds of expression. It's not like everyone was super serious is those old times. Even upper class, landowning people (the sorts of people who sometimes pride themselves as being serious and hardworking) did a lot of silly kinds of things a long time ago (as they've always done and do today). Benjamin Franklin and other wealthy Westerners were members of the Hellfire Club and other associated societies, which were not just about immaturity, but immorality. A lot of things done in that club would make a lot of modern conservatives blush.
    I love Scruton's intellect and really like listening to him. But I think it's as important not to idolize the past as it is to appreciate what our ancestors did.

  • @davidhunter8846
    @davidhunter8846 Před rokem +1

    Loved this guy in Gremlins 2: The New Batch.

  • @colincorneau1006
    @colincorneau1006 Před rokem +1

    I can’t take this conversation seriously when these two learned men don’t even know that the reason 19th century photographic portraits were unsmiling was because the technology of the time needed exposures long enough (often 1-10 seconds) to make smiling without moving infeasible.

  • @jesusbermudez6775
    @jesusbermudez6775 Před rokem

    Well I spent 34 years smiling and did not know I was smiling.

  • @JohnBorstlap
    @JohnBorstlap Před rokem

    The problem of adaptation of certainties to a changing world is a matter of how to deal with certainty in the first place. How much in human life is certain? One should never claim that something like absoute certainty exists: one starts-off in life with uncertainties, one develops and matures, and aqcuires some insights which seem to offer certainty. But when one develops further, one acquires more insights, due to experience, and things which may have seem certain are understood as merely provisional certainties. This the only certainty we have in life: certainty can only be provisional. Clinging to certainty and exclude the possibility that they need to be adapted, is simply stubborn orthodoxy, which hinders development and growth.
    A religion which demands absolute faith in orthodox truths as certainties, can never be a true, inspiring religion. Interpretations of religions in such orthodox way hinder the spiritual light these same religions may have to offer.

  • @allangilchrist5938
    @allangilchrist5938 Před 4 měsíci +1

    Roger Scruton's attitude to religion is that of a typical Conservative. He doesn't personally believe in a God but supports the idea as a means to help glue society together.

  • @mysticmouse7261
    @mysticmouse7261 Před rokem +1

    Ok now we know what high culture is. Class.

  • @thomasjorge4734
    @thomasjorge4734 Před rokem +1

    Certainty Versus Circumstance.

  • @yingyang6080
    @yingyang6080 Před 10 měsíci

    Very interesting ! But why do they keep refering to Islam/muslim culture ?