was professor of aesthetics at Birkbeck College, London until 1990, and subsequently professor of philosophy and university professor at Boston University, Massachusetts, before becoming a free-lance writer and consultant in 1994. He has published over 30 books, including works of philosophy, literature and fiction, and his writings have been translated into most major languages. His most recent books are a study of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, entitled Death-Devoted Heart (2004), the intellectual autobiography Gentle Regrets (2005), Culture Counts: Faith and Feeling in a World Besieged (2007), and Beauty (2009). He takes an active interest in music, as a critic and as a composer, and is also widely known as one of the few surviving conservative intellectuals in Europe. Roger Scruton has published many essays in Nexus. See also: www.rogerscruton.com.