the soul of the world is a 2014 book by the english philosopher roger scruton, in which the author argues for the reality of a transcendent dimension, and maintains that the experience of the sacred plays a decisive role even in a secular society. scruton supports the concept of "cognitive dualism", which means that a human can be explained both as a physical organism, and as a subjective person who relates to the world through concepts which do not belong in physical sciences, and without which it would not be possible to understand human life.