{{Short description|British philosopher (born 1946)}} {{EngvarB|date=August 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = Professor | name = Raymond Tallis | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FMedSci|FRCP|FRSA}} | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1946|10|10}} | birth_place = Liverpool, Lancashire, England | death_date = | death_place = | field = Medicine, geriatrics, philosophy of mind | work_institution = University of Manchester | alma_mater = Keble College, Oxford | doctoral_advisor = | doctoral_students = | known_for = | prizes = }} '''Raymond C. Tallis''' (born 10 October 1946)<ref>{{cite news | last = | first = | title = Birthdays | newspaper =The Guardian | location = | pages = 41 | language = | publisher = Guardian News & Media | date = 10 Oct 2014 | url = }}</ref> is a philosopher, poet, novelist, cultural critic and a retired medical physician and clinical scientist.<ref>'Tallis is a medical doctor, author, poet and philosopher', according to the item "Tallis Wins 'Against Stupidity' Award" news article in the September/October 2013 issue of Philosophy Now magazine, accessible at the bottom of the page, [http://philosophynow.org/issues/98/News_September_October_2013 here]</ref> Specialising in geriatrics, Tallis served on several UK commissions on medical care of the aged and was an editor or major contributor to two key textbooks in the field, ''The Clinical Neurology of Old Age'' and ''Textbook of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology''.
==Medical career== thumb|right|215px|Keble College, Oxford On leaving Liverpool College, Tallis gained an Open Scholarship to Keble College, Oxford, where he completed a degree in animal physiology in 1967. He completed his medical degree in 1970 at the University of Oxford and St Thomas' Hospital in London. From 1996 to 2000, he was Consultant Adviser in Care of the Elderly to the Chief Medical Officer. In 1999–2000, he was Vice-Chairman of the Stroke Task Force of the Advisory Group developing the National Service Framework for Older People. He has been on the Standing Medical Advisory Committee and the Council of the Royal College of Physicians and was secretary of the Joint Specialist Committee of the Royal College on Health Care of the Elderly between 1995 and 2003. He was a member of the Joint Task Force on Partnership in Medicine Taking, established by Alan Milburn, the Secretary of State for Health, in 2001. For three years he was a member of one of the appraisal panels of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence. He retired in 2006 as professor of geriatric medicine at the University of Manchester.<ref>Andrew Brown [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/apr/29/philosophy1 "The ardent atheist"] – interview with Raymond Tallis in ''The Guardian'', 29 April 2006. Retrieved on 21 July 2007.</ref>
==Philosophical works== Tallis attacked post-structuralism in books such as ''Not Saussure''<ref>Raymond Tallis, ''Not Saussure: A Critique of Post-Saussurean Literary Theory'', Macmillan Press 1988, 2nd ed. 1995.</ref> and ''Theorrhoea and After'',<ref>Raymond Tallis, ''Theorrhoea and After'', Macmillan, 1998</ref> and he contested assumptions of artificial intelligence research in his book ''Why the Mind is Not a Computer: A Pocket Dictionary on Neuromythology''.<ref>Raymond Tallis, ''Why the Mind is Not a Computer: A Pocket Dictionary on Neuromythology'', Imprint Academic, 2004.</ref> He denies that our appreciation of art and music can be reduced to scientific terms.<ref>Raymond Tallis, [http://iai.tv/video/neuroscience-and-the-mystery-of-music/ "Neuroscience and the Mystery of Music"] – How The Light Gets In, 2 June 2012</ref> His philosophical writings attempt to supply an anthropological account of what is distinctive about human beings. To this end he has written a trilogy of books entitled ''The Hand'';<ref>Raymond Tallis, ''The Hand: A philosophical inquiry into human being,'' Edinburgh University Press, 2003</ref> ''I Am: A Philosophical Inquiry into First-Person Being'';<ref>Raymond Tallis, ''I Am: A Philosophical Inquiry into First-Person Being'', 2004, Edinburgh University Press</ref> and ''The Knowing Animal''.<ref>Raymond Tallis, ''The Knowing Animal: A Philosophical Inquiry into Knowledge and Truth'', Edinburgh University Press, 2005.</ref> He has also argued extensively about the perceived misuse of scientific language and concepts to explain human experiences.<ref>See Thinking Straight About Curved Space by Raymond Tallis, June 2015, [http://philosophynow.org/issues/108/Thinking_Straight_About_Curved_Space here] accessed 9 June 2015.</ref>
In 2007 Tallis published ''Unthinkable Thought: The Enduring Significance of Parmenides''. His book ''The Kingdom of Infinite Space: A Fantastical Journey Around Your Head'', which explores the range of activities that go on inside the human head, was published in April 2008.<ref>Catherine O'Brien, [https://web.archive.org/web/20081013111752/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/features/article3611964.ece "Why we kiss, laugh, yawn and cry"] – interview with Raymond Tallis in ''The Times'', 25 March 2008.</ref> ''Michelangelo's Finger: An Exploration of Everyday Transcendence'' was published in 2010.<ref>[http://www.atlantic-books.co.uk/our_books/browse_catalogue.asp?css=1&edition=2284 Tallis R. Michelangelo's Finger: An Exploration of Everyday Transcendence. 2010 (1 Feb), Atlantic Books.] {{ISBN|1-84887-119-8}} {{ISBN|978-1-84887-119-9}}</ref>
''Aping Mankind: Neuromania, Darwinitis and the Misrepresentation of Humanity'' was published in 2011.<ref>[http://www.acumenpublishing.co.uk/display.asp?K=e2011020217350708&sf1=author&st1=Raymond%20Tallis&sort=sort_title&m=1&dc=2 Tallis R. Aping Mankind: Neuromania, Darwinitis and the Misrepresentation of Humanity. 2011 (30 Jun), Acumen.] {{ISBN|1-84465-272-6}} {{ISBN|978-1-84465-272-3}}</ref> ''In Defence of Wonder and Other Philosophical Reflections'', a collection of essays from ''The Reader'' and elsewhere, was published in April 2012.<ref>[http://www.acumenpublishing.com/display.asp?K=e2012020315592285&sf1=author&st1=Raymond%20Tallis&sort=sort_title&m=3&dc=3 Tallis R. In Defence of Wonder and Other Philosophical Reflections. 2012 (26 April), Acumen.] {{ISBN|1-84465-525-3}} {{ISBN|978-1-84465-525-0}}</ref>
==Other work== Tallis is among the Distinguished Supporters of Humanists UK.<ref>[http://www.humanism.org.uk/about/people/distinguished-supporters Humanism.org – distinguished supporters]</ref> Tallis is also a Patron of Dignity in Dying. On 15 September 2010, Tallis, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in ''The Guardian'', stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to the UK.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/15/harsh-judgments-on-pope-religion|title=Letters: Harsh judgments on the pope and religion|work=The Guardian|accessdate=16 September 2010 | location=London | date=15 September 2010}}</ref> In a 2010 interview with author Jesse Horn, Tallis declared that he is an optimistic humanist and an atheist. "Given that I was born a few months after Auschwitz was liberated, it is hardly surprising that I have a strong sense of the evil that humans – individually and collectively – do. My position is that of cautious and chastened optimism, a belief that, if we are ourselves well-treated by others, we will usually treat others reasonably well."<ref>{{cite news |last=Horn |first=Jesse |url=http://www.azalert.com/mogollonconnection/?p=791|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029192849/http://www.azalert.com/mogollonconnection/?p=791|archive-date=2013-10-29|title=Chasing Demons, Part 4: Pandora's Redemption|work=The Mogollon Connection|access-date=20 January 2025 }}</ref>
== References == <references />
== External links == *[http://www.raymondtallis.co.uk Raymond Tallis's web site] https://web.archive.org/web/20220411150125/http://raymondtallis.co.uk/ *[http://nousthepodcast.libsyn.com/raymond-tallis-on-the-uniqueness-of-human-consciousness Raymond Tallis argues for the uniqueness of human consciousness on NOUS the podcast] *[http://copac.ac.uk/wzgw?form=A%2FT&id=6126387&au=Raymond+Tallis&cau=&ti=&pub=&isn=&date=&lang=&fs=Search Copac listing of his published works] *[http://www.littleatoms.com/raymondtallis.htm Little Atoms Interview – Hunger: The Art of Living] *[http://iai.tv/video/time-s-arrow Raymond Tallis debates the nature of time at ''How The Light Gets In'', 2 June 2012 video] *''[https://philosophynow.org/issues/141/Arguing_with_a_Solipsist Tallis in Wonderland]'' * Philosophy Bites podcasts with interviewer Nigel Warburton and co-host Dave Edmonds ** {{cite AV media|date=2008-12-07 |series=Episode #87 |url=https://philosophybites.com/podcast/raymond-tallis-on-parmenides/ | title=Raymond Tallis on Parmenidies (with transcript) |website=Philosophy Bites |access-date=2026-02-27}} ** {{cite AV media|date=2009-05-21 |series=Episode #95 |url=https://philosophybites.com/podcast/raymond-tallis-on-assisted-dying/ | title=Raymond Tallis on Assisted Dying (with transcript) |website=Philosophy Bites |access-date=2026-02-27}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tallis, Raymond}} Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of Keble College, Oxford Category:English atheists Category:English non-fiction writers Category:20th-century English philosophers Category:21st-century English philosophers Category:English humanists Category:English medical researchers Category:Academics of the University of Manchester Category:British geriatricians Category:British philosophers of mind Category:Continental philosophers Category:Philosophical anthropologists Category:English male poets Category:20th-century atheists Category:21st-century atheists Category:People educated at Liverpool College Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts