On Human Nature

This book is based on a series of lectures at Princeton, and, some of the same themes as his earlier book The Soul of the World, which I reviewed in the previous issue (p. 65). It is a riposte to the views of evolutionary psychologists, utilitarian moralists and philosophical materialists in defending human uniqueness as persons in relation to each other with a mutual sense of responsibility. Our self-consciousness is the foundation of our moral sense, and Scruton insists that there is another order of explanation beyond biological functionalism – the Lebenswelt of intentionality and rationality. He sees the danger of biological reductionism as nurturing a notion of living down rather than living up to certain standards. Reality as to having a meaning, then so must notions of phrase, blame and forgiveness, which cannot be accounted for purely in biological terms. This leads to his idea in the last chapter of sacred obligations involving dedication of one's being. He sees subtle moral and religious notions such as redemption is much better explained through Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov than philosophical discourse.