Dan Taylor

Current Position

Senior Lecturer in Social and Political Thought
Department of Politics and International Studies, The Open University

Political theorist with expertise in early modern and contemporary political thought, focusing on power, freedom and collective agency
Author of three monographs, nine peer-reviewed journal articles, six book chapters, and three edited books and journal special issues
Secured over £150k in external research funding, with grants from UKRI, Open Societal Challenges, and the British Society for the History of Philosophy
Research impact includes policy reports, public engagement, and collaborations with the BBC and UK carers services

Research Contributions

Monographs

Spinoza and the Politics of Freedom (Edinburgh University Press, 2021)

Island Story: Journeying Through Unfamiliar Britain (London: Repeater, 2016)
→ Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for best political writing, 2017

Negative Capitalism: Cynicism in the Neoliberal Era (Winchester: Zero, 2013)

Journal Articles

“The Rage of the Disesteemed: Anger, Politics and Epistemic Agency”, Journal of Social and Political Philosophy, 5.2 (forthcoming, 2026)

“Government spending impacts on unpaid carers in England since 2010: a systematic review”, with Jitka Vseteckova and Jodi Wainwright, International Journal of Care and Caring, 9.2 (forthcoming, 2025)

“Interwoven Threads: Sympathetic Knowledge in George Eliot and Spinoza”, Journal of Spinoza Studies, 3.2 (2024)

“Militant Conversion in a Prison of the Mind: Malcolm X and Spinoza on Domination and Freedom”, Contemporary Political Theory, 23.1 (2024)

“On Damaged and Regenerating Life: Spinoza and Mentalities of Climate Catastrophe”, Crisis and Critique, 8.1 (2021)

“Death, a Surreptitious Friendship: Mortality and the Impossibility of Dying in Bataille and Blanchot”, Angelaki 25.6 (2020)

“The Reasonable Republic? Statecraft, Affects and the Highest Good in Spinoza’s Late Tractatus Politicus”, History of European Ideas, 45.5 (2019)

“Affects of Resistance: Indignation, Emulation, Fellowship”, Pli, 30 (2019)

“The Party’s Over? The Angry Brigade, the Counterculture, and the British New Left, 1967-72”, The Historical Journal, 58.3 (2015)

Selected Book Chapters

“Kissing the Ring: Power, Ingenium and Disposition” in New Perspectives on Spinoza’s Theologico-Political Treatise, ed. Author and Marie Wuth (Edinburgh University Press, 2025)

“Climate Anxiety, Fatalism and the Capacity to Act” in The Ends of Autonomy, ed. Oliver Davis and Chris Watkin (Routledge, 2022)

“Do we still not know what a body can do? Breaking down the Productive Body” in The Body Productive: Rethinking Capitalism, Work and the Body, ed. Steffan Blayney, Savannah Whaley and Joey Hornsby (Bloomsbury, 2022)

Editorial Work

With Jitka Vseteckova and Jodi Wainwright, “Care, Poverty and Inequalities”, special issue of the International Journal of Care and Caring, 9.2 (forthcoming)

Juan Domingo Sanchez Estop, Spinoza and Althusser: Detours and Returns, trans. Elise Hendrick (Edinburgh University Press, forthcoming): editor

With Marie Wuth, Politics, Power and the Imagination: New Perspectives on Spinoza’s Theologico-Political Treatise (Edinburgh University Press, 2025)

Policy Reports

With Kitty McKay and Caregivers in Gateshead (2023). Giving Care in Gateshead: Reimagining the Landscape of Care. 90pp.

With Lorena Hodgson and the Fen Tigers (2025), Fen Power: Community, Infrastructure and Resilience in the Fens. 88pp.

Teaching Contributions

Senior Lecturer in Social and Political Thought

The Open University (2020 – present [appointed L; SL since 2024])

Co-Chair of DD316 Modern Political Ideas, the UK’s largest undergraduate political ideas module. Postgraduate Convenor in POLIS and Grand Union DTP Pathway lead for Social Justice and Inequalities. Author on D113 Global Challenges (reaching 1000+ students annually), and DD211 Understanding Politics. Co-Director of the Language, Literature and Politics research group.

Lecturer in History

Goldsmiths, University of London (2016 – 2020)

Transformed traditional teaching through innovative pedagogical approaches including gallery interventions, philosophical walks through London and community engagement projects. Convenor of four modules bridging historical and political thought with lived experience and marginalised histories.

Lecturer in Philosophy

Mary Ward Centre (2016 – 2020)

Pioneered accessible philosophy education for adult learners, developing nine in-depth courses that brought political theory to non-traditional students.

Co-organiser, The IF Project (2017-19): Co-organised Lottery-funded free university bringing political philosophy to underserved London communities.

Teaching Credentials

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
BBC/OU Academic Advisor: Consulted on productions including Union with David Olusoga (BBC2, reaching over 8 million viewers) and Human Intelligence (Radio 4)
Author of numerous public teaching articles on the Open University’s OpenLearn platform, reaching around 34,000 visitors
Author of four public teaching articles for The Conversation UK, reaching around 175,000 international visitors

Public service

Trustee of Gateshead Carers Association, supporting the transformation of a traditional charity into a rights-based organisation, implementing care ethics and democratic theory in frontline services.
Selected as BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker (2023) – one of only 10 UK academics chosen from hundreds. Regular contributor to BBC Radio and print media, reaching millions with accessible political theory
Author of influential policy reports and advisory witness to the DWP’s Independent Review into Carers Allowance Overpayments.

Academic Service

Editorial board member, The Philosopher (UK’s oldest public philosophy journal) and Edinburgh University Press Spinoza Studies series
Scientific committee member, Sive Natura Research Centre, University of Bologna
Peer reviewer for leading journals (Political Theory, Constellations, British Journal for the History of Philosophy) and presses (MIT, Bloomsbury, Edinburgh)
Director of Language, Literature and Politics Research Group

Recognition & Awards

Elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker 2023
Shortlisted for Orwell Prize for Political Writing 2017
British Society for the History of Philosophy Essay Prize 2014
Derby-Bryce prize for best History undergraduate, University of London 2008

Education

Ph.D. in Philosophy, University of Roehampton (2017)
Thesis: Freedom, Power and Collective Desire in Spinoza
Examined by Étienne Balibar and Beth Lord, passing without corrections

M.A., Cultural Studies (with Distinction), Goldsmiths, University of London (2011)

B.A. (Hons), History and History of Ideas (First Class), Goldsmiths, University of London (2008)

Research Funding

Over £150,000 in competitive research funding secured

2025-2026: £20k, Open Societal Challenges, “Challenge Us”, to establish a community research network in Barking and Dagenham (PI)

2023-2025: £29,235, Open Societal Challenges, for 2-year community research on Place, Community and Connection in the Fens (PI)

2022-2023: £10k, UKRI, Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Gateshead Carers Association on “Landscapes of care” (PI)

2023-2024: £3,250, Being Human Festival, to organise community research events in Peterborough and Gateshead (PI)

Additional funding: British Society for the History of Philosophy, Society of Authors, Vice-Chancellor’s Studentship (PhD), and others.

Selected Invited Talks

Protestant University of Amsterdam (2024); Free University of Brussels (2023); University of Aberdeen (2020) – all on themes in Spinoza’s political thought

OECD Forum, Paris (2017)

30 academic conference talks since 2012, including presentations in Italy and the Netherlands. Co-organised three conferences and workshops.

Contact Information

Email: dan.taylor@open.ac.uk

Webpage: www.dantaylor.blog

Institutional profile: https://profiles.open.ac.uk/dan-taylor