Does Roger Scruton think like a horse?

On Human Nature
by Roger Scruton, Princeton, £18.95

Ignore the knighthood, the professorships, the medals, the 40 or so elegantly argued books like this one. Sir Roger Scruton is an animal. He is driven by biological needs, territorial impulses, a reproductive imperative. Him, you, me; hedgehogs, chimpanzees, rutting stags: we are all part of one long but uninterrupted chain of being. Natura non facit saltus.

Of course, we humans may feel (and act) as if we are special, but we aren’t. Not really. All the things that set us apart can be explained as enhanced versions of characteristics found in the lower animals also.