Smiles from Reason Flow – Mark Dooley

Roger Scruton ’s philosophical vision could be explained by focussing on the meaning of a smile.

For him, a smile was not a mechanical response to some external stimuli, but a revelation of the human person mingled with their flesh.

The appearances constitute “the skin of significance” through which we relate to each other and the world.

When subject to tyranny, people cannot identify with institutions but rather see them as threatening or oppressive.

In such a world, there is no sense of home but only that of alienation.

When rule of law trumps tyranny, however, we no longer perceive institutions as a threat.

This is what Hegel meant when he described the great drama that leads from slavery to citizenship.