On 19 September 2019, during the 14th Western Civilization Gala, the ISI (Intercollegiate Studies Institute) gave Sir Roger Scruton the title of Defender of Western Civilization. For this occasion Sir Roger prepared the following speech.
It is simply a large honor to be honored with the title of this year's Western Civilization Defender by the Institute of Interuniversal Studies, an organization I have been associated with for a long time, and whose activities are now more crucial than always and needed not only to young people, but besides to my generation of elders, trying to convey their cognition further.
The reason for fresh attacks on Western civilization is that it is western. The very word “western’ for many of the contemporaries it became synonymous with violence, and especially for those who do not even realize its historical, metaphysical or poetic significance. However, our western civilization is not any bizarre, peculiar obsession of nations that just came to live in a certain geographical area of the world. It creates a heritage that is constantly enriching, constantly seeking fresh values. It is something that enables a man to know his own heart; it is what allows him to make not only a rich economy and an individual lifestyle, but besides large works of art, religions, legal and government systems and all its another aspects, through which we can say without a shadow of exaggeration that we live happily in this planet (as much as possible).
What is civilization?
Let us now put aside the concept of “Western civilization”. In fact, for a individual who wants to travel around the globe, the words “west” or “east” will be simply a word of direction. Instead, look at the very concept: “civilization’. What's it all about? What is she? Surely, as a form of interpersonal bond, it is more than just a mapping of a community of languages, customs or behaviour, due to the fact that as specified it allows people to bond directly, to stay in relationships eye to eye, face to face in everyday, shared life.
In our everyday life, it has its usual dimension in the community or in the workplace. But it was thanks to her that “high culture” was created – works of art, literature, music, architecture, etc. These are our ways of changing the planet and adapting it so that man can live more freely in it.
I think that the characteristic of Western civilization is that it is simply a universal civilization, constantly giving us fresh opportunities to settle in the planet and to stay in interpersonal relationships, whose primary bond is peace and unity between neighbours.
Mind limited
Meanwhile, my mission to defend Western civilization has caused me quite a few trouble. Really, it's amazing that in our time, the more you want to defender this civilization, the more they will see you as any kind of siding fanatic. Yet, it is those who represent opposing views who are truly backward. specified people have no thought how much our civilization was – and inactive is – developed and versatile.
We were raised on the Hebrew Bible, or ancient paper that tells of ancient mediate east civilization. Thanks to her, we know more about the lives of people in tribal communities wandering through the desert.
We have learned and analyzed large epics from the times of the ancient empires of Rome and Greece, through which we learned their languages – although dead today, but showing the planet from a position another than modern languages.
We were raised in medieval literature, which was influenced by Arabic literature and, after all, Arabic literature. Tales of a 1000 and 1 Nights We were read good night.
And the more we want to dig into the past of our civilization, the more rich and universal we would see in it. And it is this that the planet besides frequently forgets present that we are not talking about a legacy from the “wallers”. That it is simply a heritage full open to all kinds of improvements, taking as its mention a man in all its fullness.
And that's actually how I see civilization. That is why I have always enjoyed being a lecturer in humanities, due to the fact that I consider humanities to be the basis of all sciences. After all, it speaks not only of humanity itself, but besides of the ways by which man can express his differences and versatility in today's world.
Who's the real fanatic?
However, we now request to fight this allegation that our civilization is backward, bossy, homely and exclusive. due to the fact that she's not. In comparison to what? Compared to the Chinese? Would we truly be limited, phanatized, and disfellowshipped if we combined our achievements with the large Confucian tradition? Not at all.
Like many others, I grew up in the works of Chinese civilization. The Confucian Odes we learned from Ezra Pound's translations. We all loved each other. in the arrangement of Das Lied von der Erde Mahler, which in music is 1 of the top interpretations of Chinese poesy – surely more beautiful than any another Chinese compositions I have always heard. There you go! It's a manifestation of fanaticism!
However, the above message is actual and should not be regarded as bigotry. The proof of the openness and generosity of our culture is precisely the fact that an artist like Mahler could translate his Viennese interior experiences into single poems, to which he then composed emotional music. Finally, she leaves the listener with this incredible chord, which, as Benjamin Britten described, “the printed 1 hung in the ether”.
So why does the modern planet force us to take a defensive position, since for everyone who knows a small about culture, it is apparent that what we call Western civilization is simply a different name of civilization in general, and that it is in itself that includes the full achievements of civilization, which young people should know and assimilate as far as possible? In my opinion, the problem stems primarily from the academic and intellectual invasions of certain groups of activists, who have not even bothered adequate to find out what they are up against, and yet are taking their stand in the category of political agenda. Their agendas are only about belonging to a "saviour" group: believing the right beliefs, we sanctify ourselves and we will constantly track down those poisonous remnants that want to take distant our right to have what is legitimately ours.
And all fresh ideologies have the same basis. These are the ideas of subversives who shout out loudly that the order in question excludes them, as this message justifies destroying the existing order in order to get to the very top of power. And erstwhile they yet get to this summit, they will reorganize the fresh order so that they can clear it of all the outdated and "corrupt" authorities that have so far had besides much to say.
This invasion of political activism into universities, into humanities, and into all another spheres of civilization is, in my view, 1 of the top disasters of the modern world.
But that doesn't gotta happen. We don't gotta perceive to these people. We do not request to join their demonstration processes, to compose letters with reports, or to modern “witch hunt” which aims to drive those “incorrectly thinking” out of the community. Only due to the fact that we engage in specified trials, activists are successful. We don't gotta join in. We can stand aside and even laughter at their speeches.
All this fuss about activism. gender It's pure madness and chaos that many people would like to get out of. Clearly, much of their anger is simply a cry for help. So keep your peace and tell them that there are views another than yours. You may be right, but others are entitled to their own. Let's sit down and talk. Let us discuss these issues in the context of the full past of civilization and where it is going.
That would be adequate to unload quite a few the increasing anger that bothers us.
It's time for courage
I think that this is the time when, thanks to institutions specified as ISI, we can add courage and support young people in their belief that there is something incorrect with this conventional teaching campaign. It seems to me that the time has come for people like me and the older generation of teachers to strengthen the younger, saying: look, civilization and heritage aid you realize reality. On the another hand, giving way to activism of this kind, or activism, which excludes full spheres of human knowledge, is the way to nowhere. The demolition of conventional values will not aid you to make the planet you want.
The most crucial thing you gotta do is engage in a dialogue, due to the fact that that's what civilization is all about. effort to know the human condition in all its complexity. And if individual tries to radicalize and politicize the curriculum and how you think and what you learn at universities, you have the right to disagree with it. You can even laughter at him. The laughing of people has not yet been forbidden in this country and in this civilization, which 1 of the top gifts is comedy. And it's up to you to exercise that right.
My final message would so be: let us not despair over Western civilization. Let us just note that it is not defined by a tight, petty West, but by features specified as openness, wealth and creativity. due to the fact that that's what civilization is.
Roger Scruton
23 September 2019
Crowd. Mariola Szymkiewicz
