Zazen, the philosophy of mind, and the practicalities of understanding impermanence

The first two terms in the title of this dissertation reference complex, long-standing practices; the former more spiritual and embodied, the latter more academic and intellectual. An exploration of one - let alone both - of these fields can only hope to scratch the surface of all that has been written about and argued over within them. This dissertation involves a general overview of these two fields, while suggesting a potential bridge between them in the form of an analysis of the practicality of realising impermanence. By the end of my argument I hope to have offered up some compelling evidence in favour of the idea that analytic philosophy of mind1 - and analytic philosophy in general - would benefit greatly from adopting principles which are best learned and expressed through the practice2 of, and scholarship around, Zen Buddhism3 and in particular the treatment of the concept of impermanence therein. So while scope dictates that I can offer only a very fleeting analysis of two very complex areas, I hope that the advantage of this overview approach is that it highlights broad and fundamental issues in analytic philosophy of mind which are often overlooked. I also hope to show that these issues are not limited to this field but in fact reflect broad aspects of thinking in general.