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Tallis in Wonderland

Philosophy in the Time of Plague, Part 1

Raymond Tallis has thoughts whilst handwashing. For Max, who is just discovering his hands.

At the time of writing this piece, your columnist, along with a fair slice of the population of the world, is under house arrest. His confinement is broken only by the permitted exercise: a sneaky dawn walk in the valley at the back of his house. Over seventy, and too long retired from the clinical front-line to be of use to Britain’s NHS, he has more time than hitherto to reflect.

And there is much to reflect on – not just on the kinds of philosophical questions that have preoccupied him over the years, but also on what is going on in a world turned upside-down. Keeping one’s distance is now pro-social, while proximity, unless necessary, is anti-social.

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