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Of Time and Lamentation: Reflections on Transience
Time’s mysteries seem to resist comprehension and what remains, once the familiar metaphors are stripped away, can stretch even the most profound philosopher. In Of Time and Lamentation , Raymond Tallis rises to this challenge and explores the nature and meaning of time and how best to understand it. The culmination of some twenty years of thinking, writing and wondering about (and within) time, it is a bold, original and thought-provoking work. With characteristic fearlessness, Tallis seeks to reclaim time from the jaws of physics.
For most of us, time is composed of mornings, afternoons and evenings and expressed in hurry, hope, longing, waiting, enduring, planning, joyful expectation and grief. Thinking about it is to meditate on our own mortality. Yet, physics has little or nothing to say about this time, the time as it is lived. The story told by caesium clocks, quantum theory and Lorentz coordinates, Tallis argues, needs to be supplemented by one of moss on rocks, tears on faces and the long narratives of our human journey. Our temporal lives deserve a richer attention than is afforded by the equations of mathematical physics.
The first part of the book, “Killing Time” is a formidable critique of the spatialized and mathematized account of time arising from physical science. The passage of time, the direction of time and time travel are critically examined and the relationship between mathematics and reality, and the nature of the observer, are explored. Part 2, “Human Time” examines tensed time, the reality of time as it is what we mean by “now”, how we make sense of past and future events, and the idea of eternity. With the scientistic reduction of time set aside and lived time reaffirmed, Tallis digs deeper into the nature of time itself in the final part, “Finding Time”. Questions about “the stuff” of time – such as instants and intervals – about time and change, and the relationship between objective and subjective time, open on to wider discussions about time and causation, the irruption of subjectivity and intentionality into a material universe, and the relationship between time and freedom.
For anyone who has puzzled over the nature of becoming, wondered whether time is inseparable from change, whether time is punctuate or continuous, or even whether time, itself, is real, Of Time and Lamentation will provoke and entertain. Those, like Tallis himself, who seek to find a place at which the scientific and humanistic views of humanity can be reconciled, will celebrate his placing of human consciousness at the heart of time, and his showing that we are “more than cogs in the universal clock, forced to collaborate with the very progress that pushes us towards our own midnight”.
For most of us, time is composed of mornings, afternoons and evenings and expressed in hurry, hope, longing, waiting, enduring, planning, joyful expectation and grief. Thinking about it is to meditate on our own mortality. Yet, physics has little or nothing to say about this time, the time as it is lived. The story told by caesium clocks, quantum theory and Lorentz coordinates, Tallis argues, needs to be supplemented by one of moss on rocks, tears on faces and the long narratives of our human journey. Our temporal lives deserve a richer attention than is afforded by the equations of mathematical physics.
The first part of the book, “Killing Time” is a formidable critique of the spatialized and mathematized account of time arising from physical science. The passage of time, the direction of time and time travel are critically examined and the relationship between mathematics and reality, and the nature of the observer, are explored. Part 2, “Human Time” examines tensed time, the reality of time as it is what we mean by “now”, how we make sense of past and future events, and the idea of eternity. With the scientistic reduction of time set aside and lived time reaffirmed, Tallis digs deeper into the nature of time itself in the final part, “Finding Time”. Questions about “the stuff” of time – such as instants and intervals – about time and change, and the relationship between objective and subjective time, open on to wider discussions about time and causation, the irruption of subjectivity and intentionality into a material universe, and the relationship between time and freedom.
For anyone who has puzzled over the nature of becoming, wondered whether time is inseparable from change, whether time is punctuate or continuous, or even whether time, itself, is real, Of Time and Lamentation will provoke and entertain. Those, like Tallis himself, who seek to find a place at which the scientific and humanistic views of humanity can be reconciled, will celebrate his placing of human consciousness at the heart of time, and his showing that we are “more than cogs in the universal clock, forced to collaborate with the very progress that pushes us towards our own midnight”.
736 pages, Hardcover
Published May 18, 2017
About the author
Raymond Tallis
51 books82 followersProfessor Raymond Tallis is a philosopher, poet, novelist and cultural critic and was until recently a physician and clinical scientist. In the Economist's Intelligent Life Magazine (Autumn 2009) he was listed as one of the top living polymaths in the world.
Born in Liverpool in 1946, one of five children, he trained as a doctor at Oxford University and at St Thomas' in London before going on to become Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Manchester and a consultant physician in Health Care of the Elderly in Salford. Professor Tallis retired from medicine in 2006 to become a full-time writer, though he remained Visiting Professor at St George's Hospital Medical School, University of London until 2008.
Prior to his retirement from medicine to devote himself to writing, Raymond Tallis had responsibility for acute and rehabilitation patients and took part in the on-call rota for acute medical emergencies. He also ran a unique specialist epilepsy service for older people. Amongst his 200 or so medical publications are two major textbooks - The Clinical Neurology of Old Age (Wiley, 1988) and the comprehensive Brocklehurst's Textbook of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology (Harcourt Brace, co-edited with Howard Fillitt, 6th edition, 2003). Most of his research publications were in the field of neurology of old age and neurological rehabilitation. He has published original articles in Nature Medicine, Lancet and other leading journals. Two of his papers were the subject of leading articles in Lancet. In 2000 Raymond Tallis was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in recognition of his contribution to medical research; in 2002 he was awarded the Dhole Eddlestone Prize for his contribution to the medical literature on elderly people; and in 2006 he received the Founders Medal of the British Geriatrics Society. In July 2007, he received the Lord Cohen Gold Medal for Research into Ageing, and in November 2011 he was honoured with the International League Against Epilepsy's Special Excellence in Epilepsy Award. He is a Patron of Dignity in Dying.
Over the last 20 years Raymond Tallis has published fiction, three volumes of poetry, and 23 books on the philosophy of mind, philosophical anthropology, literary theory, the nature of art and cultural criticism. Together with over two hundred articles in Prospect, Times Literary Supplement and many other outlets, these books offer a critique of current predominant intellectual trends and an alternative understanding of human consciousness, the nature of language and of what it is to be a human being. For this work, Professor Tallis has been awarded three honorary degrees: DLitt (Hon. Causa) from the University of Hull in 1997; LittD (Hon. Causa) at the University of Manchester 2002 and Doc (Med) SC, St George's Hospital 2015. He was Visiting Professor of English at the University of Liverpool until 2013.
Raymond Tallis makes regular appearances at Hay, Cheltenham, Edinburgh and other book festivals, and lectures widely.
Raymond Tallis's national roles have included: Consultant Advisor in Health Care of the Elderly to the Chief Medical Officer; a key part in developing National Service Framework for Older People, in particular the recommendations of developing services for people with strokes; membership of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence Appraisal Committee; Chairmanship of the Royal College of Physicians Committee on Ethics in Medicine; Chairman of the committee reviewing ethics support for front-line clinicians; and membership of the Working Party producing a seminal report Doctors in Society, Medical Professionalism in a Changing World (2005). From July 2011 to October 2014 he was the elected Chair, Healthcare Professionals for Assisted Dying (HPAD).
In 2012 he was a member of the judges' panel for the Samuel Johnson Prize.
In 2015 he judged the Notting Hill Essay prize.
Born in Liverpool in 1946, one of five children, he trained as a doctor at Oxford University and at St Thomas' in London before going on to become Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Manchester and a consultant physician in Health Care of the Elderly in Salford. Professor Tallis retired from medicine in 2006 to become a full-time writer, though he remained Visiting Professor at St George's Hospital Medical School, University of London until 2008.
Prior to his retirement from medicine to devote himself to writing, Raymond Tallis had responsibility for acute and rehabilitation patients and took part in the on-call rota for acute medical emergencies. He also ran a unique specialist epilepsy service for older people. Amongst his 200 or so medical publications are two major textbooks - The Clinical Neurology of Old Age (Wiley, 1988) and the comprehensive Brocklehurst's Textbook of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology (Harcourt Brace, co-edited with Howard Fillitt, 6th edition, 2003). Most of his research publications were in the field of neurology of old age and neurological rehabilitation. He has published original articles in Nature Medicine, Lancet and other leading journals. Two of his papers were the subject of leading articles in Lancet. In 2000 Raymond Tallis was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in recognition of his contribution to medical research; in 2002 he was awarded the Dhole Eddlestone Prize for his contribution to the medical literature on elderly people; and in 2006 he received the Founders Medal of the British Geriatrics Society. In July 2007, he received the Lord Cohen Gold Medal for Research into Ageing, and in November 2011 he was honoured with the International League Against Epilepsy's Special Excellence in Epilepsy Award. He is a Patron of Dignity in Dying.
Over the last 20 years Raymond Tallis has published fiction, three volumes of poetry, and 23 books on the philosophy of mind, philosophical anthropology, literary theory, the nature of art and cultural criticism. Together with over two hundred articles in Prospect, Times Literary Supplement and many other outlets, these books offer a critique of current predominant intellectual trends and an alternative understanding of human consciousness, the nature of language and of what it is to be a human being. For this work, Professor Tallis has been awarded three honorary degrees: DLitt (Hon. Causa) from the University of Hull in 1997; LittD (Hon. Causa) at the University of Manchester 2002 and Doc (Med) SC, St George's Hospital 2015. He was Visiting Professor of English at the University of Liverpool until 2013.
Raymond Tallis makes regular appearances at Hay, Cheltenham, Edinburgh and other book festivals, and lectures widely.
Raymond Tallis's national roles have included: Consultant Advisor in Health Care of the Elderly to the Chief Medical Officer; a key part in developing National Service Framework for Older People, in particular the recommendations of developing services for people with strokes; membership of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence Appraisal Committee; Chairmanship of the Royal College of Physicians Committee on Ethics in Medicine; Chairman of the committee reviewing ethics support for front-line clinicians; and membership of the Working Party producing a seminal report Doctors in Society, Medical Professionalism in a Changing World (2005). From July 2011 to October 2014 he was the elected Chair, Healthcare Professionals for Assisted Dying (HPAD).
In 2012 he was a member of the judges' panel for the Samuel Johnson Prize.
In 2015 he judged the Notting Hill Essay prize.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 28, 2022
A very detailed book; Philosophizing about essence of the time.
What is the relation of mathematical constructs to space and time?
The conclusion is time is time, and there is not anything like it; even space that is strongly correlated with time, is very different.
What is the relation of mathematical constructs to space and time?
The conclusion is time is time, and there is not anything like it; even space that is strongly correlated with time, is very different.
January 17, 2018
This is the kind of work that demands an extra five stars in the rating box; its superiority over other works in the genre can't be accurately outlined otherwise. In this volume, Tallis unmasks the pretensions of both physicists and philosophers who affect to breezily dismiss both the lived time of mankind and the metaphysical search for an accurate account of what time is, just as he demolished the claims of the physical reductionists in his equally brilliant 'Aping Mankind'. It's not an exaggeration to say that Tallis has, once again, made many of his interlocutors look amateur in the extreme, but what else could you expect from the nation's foremost polymath?
By clearing away the nonsense that has been written about time, Tallis oddly gets no closer to defining what time is; he seems to show, beyond any reasonable doubt, not only that time is ontologically basic, but also that once we start to engage in conceptual conjuring with time as our subject, we inevitably run into paradox after paradox. This conclusion is particularly clear in his discussion of Kant's ideas about the notion of there being a beginning of time, or in his discussion of tensed time, which rescues it from its critics but cannot give much in the way of a positive account of what it is in itself, other than to outline how it is socially curated.
This, though is hardly a failing of the book. Tallis' unflinching honesty and clarity of thought allows us to escape from self-satisfied perspective of the reductionists to view time in its inherent, and seemingly impenetrable mystery.
By clearing away the nonsense that has been written about time, Tallis oddly gets no closer to defining what time is; he seems to show, beyond any reasonable doubt, not only that time is ontologically basic, but also that once we start to engage in conceptual conjuring with time as our subject, we inevitably run into paradox after paradox. This conclusion is particularly clear in his discussion of Kant's ideas about the notion of there being a beginning of time, or in his discussion of tensed time, which rescues it from its critics but cannot give much in the way of a positive account of what it is in itself, other than to outline how it is socially curated.
This, though is hardly a failing of the book. Tallis' unflinching honesty and clarity of thought allows us to escape from self-satisfied perspective of the reductionists to view time in its inherent, and seemingly impenetrable mystery.
May 6, 2018
As part of my current reading, I have just read both this book and Carlo Rovelli's Order of Time. What a contrast! Tallis is 700+ pages, Rovelli is 200. Rovelli is a quantum physicist and writes as a poet. Tallis is a doctor and writes as a scholar. Any yet both are saying the same thing: the physicists' concept of time is an artificial construct that bears no relation to our common human experience of psychological time (and may not even exist in the basic physical stuff of the universe). If you want to get what is in effect a resumé of Tallis, read Rovelli - it's shorter and easier to read, because it's better written, than Tallis. If you feel, as I did, that Rovelli is sometimes shortcutting round tricky philosophical issues, read Tallis. Rovelli took me a weekend to read, Tallis well over a month. It's up to you. I'm lucky; I'm retired (and am partly housebound for medical reasons), so I can do both and I'm glad I did. 4 stars each: the missing fifth star in both cases is because each author failed to do what the other author did. It is no coincidence that both writers are, as I am, in the final quarter of their lives, and it shows in their deep understanding of what it means to be a mortal human living in time, whatever that is.
Did Not Finish
February 18, 2023i have limited time on this earth and this gentleman 'raymond' seems to labour under the inexcusable premise that humanity is somehow special. that through the labours of evolution we have somehow transcended animalia and walk around as something other than an animal. that animals are somehow less than human.
i suppose it is possible this gentleman might have something to say about time, but i refuse to risk it if his mind is so cauterized by human exceptionalism he cannot deign to allow animals the dubious dignity of knowledge.
'to say this is not to reject science - how could any sane person deny that it is the greatest collective cognitive achievement of humanity?' p10. well for starters we could correct 'greatest' to 'most powerful', and leave the atrocities unsaid.
i suppose it is possible this gentleman might have something to say about time, but i refuse to risk it if his mind is so cauterized by human exceptionalism he cannot deign to allow animals the dubious dignity of knowledge.
'to say this is not to reject science - how could any sane person deny that it is the greatest collective cognitive achievement of humanity?' p10. well for starters we could correct 'greatest' to 'most powerful', and leave the atrocities unsaid.
June 25, 2023
Thorough review of science and philosophical thinking of nature of Time, but...
Prof Tallis provides a very thorough, rich review of the many strands of scientific, philosophical and psychological thinking about the nature of Time. All highly commendable and well researched
But there is no 'black pearl' here. Apparently, so Prof Tallis is saying, we still don't know what time actually is? After all this thinking? Prof Tallis reviews the evidence of many failings. He might have taken one last big step to consider the profoundly simple evidence before us all. The ubiquitous, undeniable evidence that Change is the observable reality, that Time is merely how we reference change. Or that the word Time has two distinct core meanings/ uses (the 'flow' of change and the dimension of change), both abstract, never differentiated? Such a pity, for so much effort.
Prof Tallis provides a very thorough, rich review of the many strands of scientific, philosophical and psychological thinking about the nature of Time. All highly commendable and well researched
But there is no 'black pearl' here. Apparently, so Prof Tallis is saying, we still don't know what time actually is? After all this thinking? Prof Tallis reviews the evidence of many failings. He might have taken one last big step to consider the profoundly simple evidence before us all. The ubiquitous, undeniable evidence that Change is the observable reality, that Time is merely how we reference change. Or that the word Time has two distinct core meanings/ uses (the 'flow' of change and the dimension of change), both abstract, never differentiated? Such a pity, for so much effort.
January 15, 2018
I liked him being obsessed with the question of mortality and his conclusion that this bears on the concept of time. He is himself unhappy about his own cognitive limits and is able to draw few useful conclusions. Take heart! Our future brings not only a more complete understanding of time but the conquest of mortality.
March 19, 2025
This was frankly a push to get thru but I am so glad I did. Puts many thoughts and confusion about time I've had into words with plenty of analogy and citations to back up the claims. I also respect the relative ambiguity the book maintains about time and it's claims while insisting the ideas presented are certainly a closer step to the 'reality' of things.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews