“Nonsense has taken up residence in the heart of public debate and also in the academy. This nonsense is part of the huge fund of unreason on which the plans and schemes of optimists draw for their vitality. Nonsense confiscates meaning. It thereby puts truth and falsehood, reason and unreason, light and darkness on an equal footing. It is a blow cast in defence of intellectual freedom, as the optimists construe it, namely the freedom to believe anything at all, provided you feel better for it.”

English philosopher, writer, and social critic

Sir Roger Vernon Scruton was an English philosopher, writer, and social critic. He is known for work on aesthetics and political philosophy, and for presenting conservative views in those fields. He founded The Salisbury Review, a conservative political journal, and wrote more than 50 books on architecture, art, philosophy, politics, religion, and related subjects. He also chaired the United Kingdom government’s Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission from 2019 to 2020. His ideas on classical architecture and beauty continue through his foundation, and his political thought remains influential.