In this pathbreaking book, one of Britain’s most eloquent and original thinkers writes about the head, what happens in it, and how it is and is not connected to our sense of identity and consciousness. Blending science, philosophy, and humor, Raymond Tallis examines the extraordinarily complex relationship we have with our heads. His aim, as he says, is to turn readers into astonished tourists of the piece of the world that is closest to them, so they never again take for granted the head that looks at them from the mirror.” Readers will delight that this is precisely what he accomplishes.
The voyage begins with a meditation on the self-portrait of a mirror image, followed by a consideration of the head’s various secretions. Tallis contemplates the air we exhale; the subtle meanings of nods, winks, and smiles; the mysteries of hearing, taste, and smell. He discusses the metaphysics of the gaze, the meaning of kissing, and the processes by which the head comes to understand the world. Along the way he offers intriguing digressions on such notions as having” and using” one’s head, and enjoying and suffering it. Tallis concludes with his thoughts on the very thing the reader’s head has been doing throughout the book: thinking.

The Kingdom of Infinite Space: A Portrait of Your Head

Politics & Social Sciences

Tallis, Raymond

Philosophy

Yale University Press

A joyful tour of the human head and of what we make of the astonishing processes that take place within it In this pathbreaking book, one of Britain’s most eloquent and original thinkers writes about the head, what happens in it, and how it is and is not connected to our sense of identity and consciousness. Blending science, philosophy, and humor, Raymond Tallis examines the extraordinarily complex relationship we have with our heads. His aim, as he says, “is to turn readers into astonished tourists of the piece of the world that is closest to them, so they never again take for granted the head that looks at them from the mirror.” Readers will delight that this is precisely what he accomplishes.
The voyage begins with a meditation on the self-portrait of a mirror image, followed by a consideration of the head’s various secretions. Tallis contemplates the air we exhale; the subtle meanings of nods, winks, and smiles; the mysteries of hearing, taste, and smell. He discusses the metaphysics of the gaze, the meaning of kissing, and the processes by which the head comes to understand the world. Along the way he offers intriguing digressions on such notions as “having” and “using” one’s head, and enjoying and suffering it. Tallis concludes with his thoughts on the very thing the reader’s head has been doing throughout the book: thinking.

In this startlingly original and persuasive book, Raymond Tallis shows that it is easy to underestimate the influence of small things in determining what manner of creatures humans are. He argues that the independent movement of the human index finger is one such easily overlooked factor. Indeed, not for nothing is the index finger called the “forefinger.” It is the finger we most naturally deploy when we want to pry objects out of small spaces, but it plays a far more significant role in an action unique to us among primates: pointing.
Tallis argues that it is through pointing that the index finger made a significant contribution to the development of humans and to the creation of a human world separate from the rest of the natural world. Observing the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the hugely familiar and awkward encounter between Michelangelo’s God and Man through their index fingers, Tallis identifies the artist’s intuitive awareness of the central role of the index finger in making us unique. Just as the reaching index fingers of God and Man are here made central to the creation of our kind, so Tallis believes that the seemingly simple act of pointing, which is used in a wide variety of ways, is central to our extraordinary evolution.

Michelangelo's Finger: An Exploration of Everyday Transcendence

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Psychology & Counseling

A renowned British public intellectual illustrates how our unique ability to point the index finger has shaped our amazing evolutionary pathway as humans In this startlingly original and persuasive book, Raymond Tallis shows that it is easy to underestimate the influence of small things in determining what manner of creatures humans are. He argues that the independent movement of the human index finger is one such easily overlooked factor. Indeed, not for nothing is the index finger called the “forefinger.” It is the finger we most naturally deploy when we want to pry objects out of small spaces, but it plays a far more significant role in an action unique to us among primates: pointing.Tallis argues that it is through pointing that the index finger made a significant contribution to the development of humans and to the creation of a human world separate from the rest of the natural world. Observing the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the hugely familiar and awkward encounter between Michelangelo’s God and Man through their index fingers, Tallis identifies the artist’s intuitive awareness of the central role of the index finger in making us unique. Just as the reaching index fingers of God and Man are here made central to the creation of our kind, so Tallis believes that the seemingly simple act of pointing, which is used in a wide variety of ways, is central to our extraordinary evolution.

A physician-philosopher celebrates the mystery and delight of everyday life from an imagined posthumous perspective In this beautifully written personal meditation on life and living, Raymond Tallis reflects on the fundamental fact of existence: that it is finite. Inspired by E. M. Forster’s thought that “Death destroys a man but the idea of it saves him,” Tallis invites readers to look back on their lives from a unique standpoint: one’s own future corpse. From this perspective, he shows, the world now vacated can be seen most clearly in all its richness and complexity. Tallis blends lyrical reflection, humor, and the occasional philosophical argument as he explores his own postmortem recollections. He considers the biological processes and the senses that opened up his late world and the million-nooked space in which he passed his life. His inert, dispossessed body highlights his ceaseless activity in life, the mind-boggling inventory of his possessions, and the togetherness and apartness that characterized his relationships in the material and social worlds. Tallis also touches on the idea of a posthumous life in the memories of those who outlive him. Readers who accompany Tallis as he considers his life through death will appreciate with new intensity the precariousness and preciousness of life, for here he succeeds in his endeavor to make “the shining hour” shine more brightly.

The Black Mirror: Looking at Life through Death

Parenting & Relationships

Since the end of the 1960s, literary theory has been dominated by structuralist and post-structuralist writers claiming to be drawing out the implications of the ideas of Ferdinand de Saussure. Although "post-Saussurean" theory has provoked a good deal of hostility, little adverse criticism has been directed at its philosophical underpinnings. This work subjects the fundamental ideas of Derrida, Lacan, Barthes and their followers to an examination and demonstrates the baselessness of post-Saussurean claims about the relations between language reality and self.

Not Saussure: A Critique of Post-Saussurean Literary Theory

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

PALGRAVE~MACMILLAN

Not Saussure: A Critique of Post-Saussurean Literary Theory (Language, Discourse, Society)

An impassioned attack, "The Explicit Animal" examines contemporary attempts to accommodate consciousness within the dominant and materialist world picture. Biological and computational theories and theories such as functionalism that attempt to eliminate subjective experience are shown to be profoundly misconcieved. An examination of consciousness as it is expressed in the life of man, "the explicit animal", demonstrates its irreducible mystery. The text refutes these attempts, and outlines a new account of consciousness. The author, Raymond Tallis, has published a number of books. These include "Between the Zones", "Glints of Darkness", "In Defence of Realism", "The Pursuit of Mind", and "Not Saussure", published by Macmillan.

The Explicit Animal: A Defence of Human Consciousness

McMillin Pub Llc

This work subjects the fundamental ideas of Derrida, Lacan, Barthes and their followers to an examination and demonstrates the baselessness of post-Saussurean claims about the relations between language, reality and self.

Raymond Tallis's The Explicit Animal (1991) was a passionate attack on attempts to explain human consciousness in purely biological terms. This ground-breaking book defended the distinctive nature of human consciousness against the misrepresentations of those many philosophers and cognitive scientists who aimed to reduce it to a set of functions understood in evolutionary, neurobiological and computational terms. In his laudatory review in The Times Literary Supplement, Stephen Clark expressed the hope that Tallis would continue his explorations. On the Edge of Certainty does precisely that, investigating and clarifying the implications of the highly original view of human nature discussed in his earlier book, in order to understand the nature of truth, of language, of the mind and of the self.

On the Edge of Certainty: Philosophical Explorations

Reference

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Tallis, Raymond. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Tallis, Raymond

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Tallis, Raymond. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Kingdom of Infinite Space: A Portrait of Your Head

The Kingdom of Infinite Space: A Portrait of Your Head

Michelangelo's Finger: An Exploration of Everyday Transcendence

Michelangelo's Finger: An Exploration of Everyday Transcendence

The Black Mirror: Looking at Life through Death

Not Saussure: A Critique of Post-Saussurean Literary Theory

Not Saussure: A Critique of Post-Saussurean Literary Theory (Language, Discourse, Society)

The Explicit Animal: A Defence of Human Consciousness

Not Saussure: A Critique of Post-Saussurean Literary Theory (Language, Discourse, Society)

On the Edge of Certainty: Philosophical Explorations