Roger Scruton on Sex and Love
21st August 2026
Religion is the traditional source of sexual ethics, the rules meant to govern our sexual conduct. Its declining influence over our culture has left sexual ethics without a foundation, and yet the need for it clearly remains. Many people feel that an ethics based solely on consent cannot satisfy all the needs generated by our sexual nature. But is it possible to give secular reasons for sexual norms?
Roger Scruton thought so, and he made a compelling case for it in what is probably his best book, the unjustly neglected Sexual Desire: A Philosophical Investigation (1986). Scruton’s views are worth revisiting in light of the sexual and romantic dysfunctions of our time. His perspective on sex may help people articulate their frustration and point us toward a better and more romantic ideal of what sex could be.
Even better is Dr. Davic M. Buss, Why Women Have Sex: Understanding Sexual Motivations from Adventure to Revenge (and Everything in Between