Niall Ferguson has recently recounted the ever-lengthening list of professional thinkers, public intellectuals, and writers of any stripe who have been publicly disciplined and punished for various “thought crimes.” He worries that, as a result, “critical thinking” is going to die. The case of conservative philosopher and public intellectual Sir Roger Scruton provides a prime example.Last year, Scruton, who has written extensively on aesthetics, was appointed as chairman of the British government’s commission on buildings. Having been knighted in 2016, Scruton has only gained in stature as a thinker who understands how the built environment contributes to the common good of a nation. Yet it is also this increase in his stature which has made him into an ideal target for partisans. Ferguson writes: