Timothy Rayner

I grew up in Auckland, New Zealand in the shadow of fifty two volcanoes, an experience relieved by formative stints in Indonesia and the UK. After high school I pursued a musical career until my hormones settled down before enrolling in university to train for an honest job. This was not to be. Philosophy had its hooks in me before I could pronounce ‘existentialism’. The subsequent decade was a blur of deconstructive analysis and Nietzschean critique.

In 1999, my partner and I moved to Sydney, Australia. I completed a PhD and taught various courses in philosophy at the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales. I’ve published academic papers and a book, Foucault’s Heidegger: Philosophy and Transformative Experience (Continuum 2007).

I’ve just finished my second book, Philosophy for Change, based on a course I’ve taught at the Center for Continuing Education, University of Sydney, since 2008. Philosophy for Change is a philosophical introduction to the art of reflective change. I’m shopping it around while I write the next in the series, Philosophy for Innovation. I think of these books as my main line of occupation.

I’ve also written a short film with the British film-maker, Simon Robson (aka Knife Party). ‘Coalition of the Willing’ is a collaborative animated film about an online war against global warming in a post-Copenhagen world. Starting February 2010, the Coalition website will host shots from the film uploaded in six different ‘waves’. The complete film will be online by mid-April 2010. You can follow the action here.

• If you’d like to contact me, my email address is tim at timrayner dot net.