Dan Taylor

My essay on chess is now up online on The Philosopher webpage:

https://www.thephilosopher1923.org/essay-taylor

It’s written like a game of chess, involving two sides. It weighs up different styles and approaches to playing the game, as well as its place in literature and philosophy. I’d been interested in Spinoza’s connection to chess for a while, and this piece gave me a place to explore that as well as revisit some favourites old (Pessoa) and new (Shakespeare’s The Tempest).

Another piece on climate anxiety came out on the Open University’s COP26 hub.

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/nature-environment/environmental-studies/the-psychological-impacts-climate-change?in_menu=1835234

It was written before the inconclusive event in Glasgow. The one thing that this piece, and another forthcoming on the same topic hasn’t yet got right, to my satisfaction at least, is the importance of framing these as political problems, and not psychological ones. And unfortunately the urgency and motivation to act among policymakers seems to have since dissipated.

Finally, here’s a video from last year with me introducing my research. Watch out for the triffid in the background – does it shift closer and closer as I speak…?