Introduction
Contemporary Western culture is undergoing a profound process of transformation, evolving from a coherent value system toward a so-called culture of repudiation. This article analyzes this crisis through the lens of Roger Scruton’s thought, illustrating how successive intellectual currents have led to the disappearance of the sacred, beauty, and communal rituals. Understanding these mechanisms is crucial, as high culture is not merely a luxury but the foundation of a free and ethical society. Readers will discover the sources of today’s atomization and how the education of the heart can serve as an antidote to modern fragmentation.
The Avant-Garde and the Institutionalization of Rebellion
The origins of the avant-garde lie in radical opposition to bourgeois culture. Futurists and Dadaists proclaimed the need to "destroy museums," making transgression—the deliberate crossing of norms—their primary imperative. Roger Scruton notes, however, that this rebellion quickly transformed into ritualized profanation. Shock ceased to be a tool for seeking meaning and became a method of disorienting the audience.
A pivotal moment was the institutionalization of rebellion. Marcel Duchamp’s gesture of exhibiting a urinal as a work of art demonstrated that the institutional context, rather than the object’s value, determines its status. Consequently, transgression became the "banality of the unexpected." What was meant to topple taboos is now a state-funded standard and a form of new conformism that, instead of building community, celebrates the ritual of negation.
Deconstruction and the Collapse of Grand Narratives
In the second half of the 20th century, Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction became a philosophy for the systematic dismantling of culture. Through the concept of différance (the perpetual deferral of meaning), the existence of stable foundations of truth was questioned. Michel Foucault reinforced this trend by exposing every norm as a hidden mechanism of power and discipline. Meanwhile, Jean-François Lyotard announced the arrival of postmodernism as an era of "incredulity toward grand narratives."
The sociological consequences of these processes are profound. Culture has ceased to be a shared home, becoming instead an arena for the struggle for dominance. Students learn to hunt for exclusions rather than find meaning in classic texts. A deep chasm is opening between the "world of galleries and academia" and ordinary people who still long for harmony and tradition. This alienation of the elites generates social resentment and weakens the capital of trust necessary for democracy to function.
The Exile of Beauty and the Renewal of High Culture
Scruton emphasizes the fundamental difference between imagination and fantasy. Imagination is the "workshop of the heart" that shapes our moral sensitivity, while fantasy (evident in kitsch and pornography) offers only easy gratification. The absence of the sacred and beauty in public spaces leaves the world feeling empty and human actions devoid of symbolic weight. Beauty is not just an aesthetic addition—it is a promise that the world is worthy of love.
Scruton’s positive program rests on three pillars: the renewal of the canon, a return to ritual, and the education of the heart. The canon is not a dead list but a living dialogue with the past that teaches us the proper hierarchy of emotions. Schools should initiate younger generations into culture, teaching them not just "how" but, above all, "why" to live. Restoring shared rituals and caring for the beauty of our surroundings are essential conditions for escaping a state of perpetual social adolescence.
Summary
The crisis of modern culture is the drama of transitioning from a metaphysics of presence to a metaphysics of absence. When deconstruction becomes dogma, we lose the language required to speak of positive values. Scruton reminds us, however, that high culture is not a luxury, but a condition for the survival of a free community. In a world dominated by irony and transgression, will we dare to build a new canon that is not a prison of the past, but a bridge to the future? The answer to this question will determine whether we can breathe life into the cracked foundations of our civilization.
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