William Victor Zinn (1903–1989) was a British civil engineer who specialised in concrete construction methods. He served in the Royal Engineers in Burma during the Second World War and rose to the rank of Major. He worked for Truscon (the Trussed Concrete Steel Company Limited), and later formed his own practice and as William V. Zinn & Associates was the sole named consulting engineer on the construction of the Merrion Centre in Leeds. He travelled in the Far East in the course of his work and became interested in Buddhist philosophy, writing two books on the subject, ''The Global Philosophy'' (c.1971) and ''Phenomena and Noumena'' (1984) in which he argued for the scientific nature of certain strands of Buddhism and the falsity of the mind-brain dichotomy.

Early life and family

William Zinn was born in 1903. He studied engineering at the University of London and received the degree of Bachelor of Science (Eng.)Association of Consulting Engineers. (1979) ''The Consulting Engineers Who's Who & Year Book''. Vol. 33. Princes Press. p. 254. During the Second World War, he served in the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

in Burma, rising to the rank of major.William Victor Zinn.
National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 5 May 2021.

Career

Zinn practiced as a civil engineer and was qualified in Britain and France. He specialised in concrete engineering and was employed, among other places, at Truscon (the Trussed Concrete Steel Company Limited). He later formed his own practice and as William V. Zinn & Associates was the sole named consulting engineer on the construction of the Merrion Centre, Leeds, in the early 1960s. The centre was described by the builders Parkinsons as "the most advanced shopping and entertainment centre in the country" and cost £3m to build.

Buddhism

Zinn travelled extensively in the Far East in the course of his work and became interested in Buddhist philosophy, publishing ''The Global Philosophy'' in 1971 which was reprinted by Vantage Press of New York in 1984 as a companion volume to his second book, ''Phenomena and Noumena'', also published by Vantage that year with a foreword by

Colin Blakemore Sir Colin Blakemore, , Hon (1 June 1944 – 27 June 2022) was a British neurobiologist, specialising in vision and the development of the brain. He was Yeung Kin Man Professor of Neuroscience and senior fellow of the Hong Kong Institute for Adv ...

, professor of physiology at the University of Oxford. In the books, Zinn argued that the thought of the Gautama Buddha, preserved in the '' Theravada'' and taught in Sri Lanka, forms a complete and scientific philosophy, parts of which can be compared to Immanuel Kant's ''phenomena'' and '' noumenon''. Zinn argues that the mind is a part of the body, subject to empirical analysis, and rejects the idea of a mystical or spiritual separation between the mind and the brain. In an afterword to ''Phenomena and Noumena'',

Gerald du Pré Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Irish ...

, chairman of the Scientific Buddhism Association, summarises Zinn's arguments in favour of a "global philosophy" that would unite science and morality by rejecting mysticism, faith, and spirituality, thus preventing people living in a state of perpetual hypocrisy and confusion created by the conflict between science and faith. Du Pré felt that Zinn was perhaps too harsh in his criticism of the Mahayana school of Buddhism but not fundamentally wrong in his analysis that there was nothing in that school that was not in the ''Theravada''.

Later life

Zinn retired to the island of Jersey where he lived with his wife Monica. He died in 1989.

Selected publications

* ''The Global Philosophy''. Singapore Buddhist Meditation Centre, Singapore, c.1971. Reprinted, Vantage Press, New York, 1984. * ''Phenomena and Noumena''. Vantage Press, New York, 1984. ISBN 0533056403

References

External links

Improvements in the construction of the walls of buildings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zinn, William 1903 births 1989 deaths British engineers British non-fiction writers Royal Engineers officers British Army personnel of World War II British civil engineers Alumni of the University of London British scholars of Buddhism