杏吧原创

ROGER SCRUTON鈥檚 An Intelligent Person鈥檚 Guide to Philosophy (Allen
Lane, 拢8.99/$24.95, ISBN 0713992263) takes a personal and
provocative look at the subject鈥攖hose abstract, but nevertheless
practical, problems that concern anyone who has reflected on his or her life. Of
special delight is his discussion of sex and music.

He looks at the inextricable connection between sex, love and the subtle
embedded webs of interpersonal perceptions. Scruton asserts that romantic sex
emerges from each seeing the other through the other鈥檚 eyes, and in regarding
the other as unique and indispensable. Romance is sometimes seen as the preserve
of poets, but some scientists disagree. Various economists have tried to extend
their analysis beyond a financial context to interpersonal relations, including
romance鈥攆or example, the fascinating work of Gary Becker, Richard Posner
and Gordon Tullock. Scruton points out that if the value of each romance lies in
its uniqueness, then the economist鈥檚 presumption of the 鈥渟ustainability of units
of a good鈥� fails to apply. The same point might be made about patriotism or
loyalty to a friend.

Another major theme is the difference between human beings and the rest of
the animal kingdom. Music creates a rich and distinctive world that cannot be
understood by analogy to the phenomenology of visual perception: 鈥渢his patch of
green here now鈥�. Scruton explores the 鈥渉ow it seems鈥� of music鈥攖he way in
which it creates the illusion of 鈥渟pace鈥�, for example. He shows that there is a
world of difference between the nightingale鈥檚 song and Mozart鈥檚 Exultate
Jubilate.

This is a book with which a student of, or newcomer to, philosophy can have
pleasure, wrestling with its ideas and exploring and building their own.