I came to Scruton originally because of the film he made on art, which had some compelling ideas about transcendent values as far as beauty and aesthetics go. The relativist notions pervading the field today are elegantly defeated with the Scruton quip "[a relativist] is asking you not to believe him, so don't".

In light of the frankly insane pushback he's received online, with accusations of being a fascist and racist, it's a bit shocking to see his notion of conservatism is so utterly spineless and complacent. His opponents really dressed up lukewarm opposition to progressive notions as the spawn of Satan. Meanwhile, here he is saying the Chicago school conservatives with their focus on pure economics are wrong, as well as the libertarians who want to surrender society to capital forces. Scruton's conservatism rotates around peoples in terms borrowed from the greeks, and their communities. Civil society, not coincidentally a feature of british society about a century ago, is what he's trying to conserve. Freedom of association and wresting some control back from the state to local communities. While he waffles about on topics like christianity and traditions, he's always compromising and refusing to assert a right to primacy. People ought just to choose these values and to prioritize holding onto the pearls of society of old.

The defense of civil society is much the same as Niall Ferguson makes in [b:The Great Degeneration|16129479|The Great Degeneration|Niall Ferguson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1372541698l/16129479._SY75_.jpg|21954506] 2 years earlier, but Ferguson made a much more concise and specific case for it. Scruton's meandering and compromising view of conservatism doesn't inspire as a vision. But neither does it explain the absolute hate spewed over his supposed stances. ( )

O filósofo político inglês Roger Scruton construiu sua reputação ao empregar a sua inteligência na reflexão e divulgação do pensamento conservador. É um pensador que sabe conjugar de forma exemplar um raciocínio profundo com um texto sofisticado e preciso.
O tema central desta obra, Como ser um conservador, é o conservadorismo. E é a partir da apresentação teórica e prática do pensamento conservador em suas várias dimensões na vida em sociedade que Scruton examina e explica como ser um conservador. E o faz com uma habilidade grandiosa para expor teoria e análise de maneira clara e concisa sem simplificá-las ou vulgarizá-las.
A mestria de Scruton permite ao leitor encerrar esta leitura com a percepção de que aprendeu algo valioso e com o sentimento de que pertence a uma tradição, mesmo que ainda tenha que descobrí-la.
Como ser um conservador trata-se de obra de suma relevância para o Brasil neste momento de indizível interesse pelas ideias conservadoras.

You can read my review at the New York Journal of Books:

http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/how-be-conservative ( )