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Tallis in Wonderland

The Philosopher in the Café

Raymond Tallis finds Sartre in bad faith about ‘Bad Faith’.

One of the many things I have missed during lockdown has been writing in cafés. There is nothing wrong with my study; indeed, I am very lucky to sit in a tranquil space lined with books that I have read, have half-read, will one day read or re-read, or that I – or my beneficiaries – will in due course take to the charity shop. But even philosophers, whose thoughts are least rooted in their physical surroundings, need a change of scene from time to time. ‘Going out to write’ turns the continuum of the struggle with the blank screen into discrete episodes, and the journey to and from a café provides a scaffolding for the creative process (which is not always as glamorous as it sounds). What’s more, going out of the house to write is a little like heading for the office, and this confers upon thinking about the universe the respectability of serious work.

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