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 recently finished my second book, Philosophy for Change, based on a seminar-workshop program I put together in 2008. Philosophy for Change is a philosophical introduction to the art of reflective change. I’m shopping it around while I write the follow-up, 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) titled, ‘Coalition of the Willing’. This 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 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.