This is a major contribution to political thought from conservatism's greatest contemporary proponent. Originally published in Britain in 1980 and revised in 1984, this edition - the first ever in the United States - is a major rewriting of the work. Scruton's idea of conservatism - what in America we tend to call "paleo-conservatism" - might well shock the sensibilities of those American "conservatives" who view it as little more than the workings of the free market. Conservatism, says Scruton, is neither automatic hostility toward the state nor the desire to limit the state's obligations toward the citizen. Rather, conservatism regards the individual not as the premise but the conclusion of politics, a politics that is fundamentally opposed to the ethic of social justice, to equality of station, income, and achievement, or to the attempt to bring major institutions of society (such as schools and universities) under government control.

The conservative outlook, says Scruton, is neither outmoded nor irrational. On the contrary, it is the most reasonable of political alternatives. The evils of socialism, he maintains, lie precisely where its supporters find its strengths, and the conditions for the credibility of socialism have long since disappeared. Neither socialism nor liberalism can come to terms with the real complexity of human society, and both appear plausible only because they direct attention away from what is actual, toward what is merely ideal.

羅傑・斯剋拉頓

是當代的一位最具代錶性、也是最具爭議的保守主義理論傢。1975年，斯剋拉頓加入保守主義哲學小組，1976年又成為索爾茲伯裏小組(Salisbury Group)的重要成員。1982年，斯剋拉頓開始主編《索爾茲伯裏評論》(Salisbury Review)，該刊很快就成為英國乃至西歐最有影響的保守主義刊物。斯剋拉頓全麵闡述瞭保守主義的基本原則，強調傳統的作用，主張加強法治，維護社會秩序，強化國傢的權威。