Raymond C. Tallis (born 10 October 1946) is a philosopher, poet, novelist,

cultural critic A cultural critic is a critic of a given culture, usually as a whole. Cultural criticism has significant overlap with social and cultural theory. While such criticism is simply part of the self-consciousness of the culture, the social positions of ...

and a retired medical physician and clinical neuroscientist. Specialising in

geriatrics Geriatrics, or geriatric medicine, is a medical specialty focused on providing care for the unique health needs of older adults. The term ''geriatrics'' originates from the Greek language, Greek γέρων ''geron'' meaning "old man", and ιατ ...

, 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

On leaving

Liverpool College Liverpool College is a school in Mossley Hill, Liverpool, England. It was one of the thirteen founding members of the Headmasters' Conference (HMC). History Liverpool College was the first of many public schools founded in the Victorian E ...

, Tallis gained an Open Scholarship to

Keble College Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, where he completed a degree in

animal physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

in 1967. He completed his

medical degree A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into special ...

in 1970 at the University of Oxford and

St Thomas' Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foun ...

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 A National Service Framework (NSF) was any of several policies set by the National Health Service (NHS) in England to define standards of care for major medical issues such as cancer, coronary heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, d ...

for Older People. He has been on the Standing Medical Advisory Committee and the Council of the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...

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 Alan Milburn (born 27 January 1958) is a British Labour Party politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Darlington from 1992 to 2010. He served for five years in the Cabinet, first as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 1998 to 1999, a ...

, the

Secretary of State for Health The secretary of state for health and social care, also referred to as the health secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department of Health and Social Care. The incumbent ...

, in 2001. For three years he was a member of one of the appraisal panels of the

National Institute of Clinical Excellence The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care in England that publishes guidelines in four areas: * the use of health technologies withi ...

. He retired in 2006 as Emeritus Professor of

Geriatric Medicine Geriatrics, or geriatric medicine, is a medical specialty focused on providing care for the unique health needs of older adults. The term ''geriatrics'' originates from the Greek γέρων ''geron'' meaning "old man", and ιατρός ''iatros' ...

at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

Philosophical works

Tallis attacked

post-structuralism Post-structuralism is a term for philosophical and literary forms of theory that both build upon and reject ideas established by structuralism, the intellectual project that preceded it. Though post-structuralists all present different critique ...

in books such as ''Not Saussure'' and ''Theorrhoea and After'', and he contested assumptions of

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

research in his book ''Why the Mind is Not a Computer: A Pocket Dictionary on Neuromythology''. He denies that our appreciation of art and music can be reduced to scientific terms. 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''; ''I Am: A Philosophical Inquiry into First-Person Being''; and ''The Knowing Animal''. He has also argued extensively about the perceived misuse of scientific language and concepts to explain human experiences. In 2007 Tallis published ''Unthinkable Thought: The Enduring Significance of

Parmenides Parmenides of Elea (; grc-gre, Παρμενίδης ὁ Ἐλεάτης; ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Elea in Magna Graecia. Parmenides was born in the Greek colony of Elea, from a wealthy and illustrious family. His dates a ...

''. 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. ''Michelangelo's Finger: An Exploration of Everyday Transcendence'' was published in 2010. ''Aping Mankind: Neuromania, Darwinitis and the Misrepresentation of Humanity'' was published in 2011. ''In Defence of Wonder and Other Philosophical Reflections'', a collection of essays from ''The Reader'' and elsewhere, was published in April 2012.

Other work

Tallis is among the Distinguished Supporters of

Humanists UK Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious be ...

. Tallis is also a Patron of

Dignity in Dying Dignity in Dying (originally The Voluntary Euthanasia Legalisation Society) is a United Kingdom nationwide campaigning organisation. It is funded by voluntary contributions from members of the public, and as of December 2010, it claimed to hav ...

. On 15 September 2010, Tallis, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', stating their opposition to

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

's state visit to the UK. 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 Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

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."

References

External links

Raymond Tallis's web site
https://web.archive.org/web/20220411150125/http://raymondtallis.co.uk/
Raymond Tallis argues for the uniqueness of human consciousness on NOUS the podcastCopac listing of his published worksRaymond Tallis discusses Parmenides on ''Philosophy Bites'' podcastRaymond Tallis debates the nature of time at ''How The Light Gets In'', 2 June 2012 video
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tallis, Raymond 1946 births Living people Alumni of Keble College, Oxford English atheists English non-fiction writers English philosophers English humanists English medical researchers Academics of the University of Manchester British geriatricians 20th-century British philosophers Philosophers of mind Continental philosophers Philosophical anthropology 21st-century British philosophers English male poets 20th-century atheists 21st-century atheists People educated at Liverpool College