Head to head
Buddhism vs Eliminative Materialism
Buddhism’s Empty, Illusory Phenomenal Consciousness and Churchland’s Eliminative Materialism, compared field by field from their entries in the Atlas.
At a glance
- Buddhism belongs to the Idealism family in Kuhn's Landscape of Consciousness, Eliminative Materialism to Materialism.
- On life after death, Buddhism says “Yes” and Eliminative Materialism says “No”.
- On meaning and purpose, Buddhism says “Cosmic/Ultimate” and Eliminative Materialism says “Humanistic only”.
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The claim
In brief
BuddhismThis theory suggests that the sense of phenomenal consciousness or 'what-it-is-like-ness' is an instance of cognitive illusion, rejecting the existence of a permanent, inner 'self' or 'soul'. It posits that consciousness, like all phenomena, is ultimately empty of intrinsic nature, and is better understood as a network of relational processes.
Eliminative MaterialismPaul and Patricia Churchland hold that common-sense psychology, our everyday talk of beliefs, desires, and experiences, is a radically false theory that a completed neuroscience will displace rather than smoothly reduce. Consciousness as we ordinarily conceive it is a brain-generated picture shaped by evolution, and our self-understanding, introspection included, will be rebuilt in neuroscientific terms.
What consciousness is
BuddhismConsciousness (in the phenomenal sense) is identified as a cognitive illusion or conventional reality constituted by a network of processes/relations (Madhyamaka) or as an inner subjective substrate of representations (Yogācāra).
Eliminative MaterialismWhat we call consciousness, as folk psychology describes it, does not exist in that form. The real phenomena are neural processes, which only a mature neuroscience will describe correctly.
Big questions
BuddhismUncertainIf consciousness is fundamentally an illusion arising from a network of processes, it is unclear whether advanced computation (AI) can replicate the complex conventional reality or the specific non-self processes that generate this illusion, even though computation is not fundamentally ruled out.
Eliminative MaterialismNo position
BuddhismYesThe eighth (store-house) consciousness persists after death, carrying karmic energy through cycles of reincarnation. However, survival often entails expansion back into cosmic consciousness, blurring or banishing individual first-person identity ('being sugar').
Eliminative MaterialismNoSince the mind is the brain, nothing mental survives the brain’s death.
BuddhismNot neededThe theory already provides a mechanism for persistence (the eighth consciousness) or transcendence (ninth consciousness), making artificial, digital duplication (virtual immortality) philosophically moot.
Eliminative MaterialismNo position
BuddhismCosmic/UltimateThe ultimate goal is spiritual attainment (reaching the ninth consciousness or Buddha nature), which serves as the core source of energy and ultimate fulfillment, moving beyond merely humanistic purpose.
Eliminative MaterialismHumanistic onlyPatricia Churchland urges us to see ourselves as organisms in nature, understood by scientific methods, with no cosmic purpose.
Nature of mind
Ontology
BuddhismIdealism (specifically the Yogācāra school) or Deflationary Relationalism (specifically the Madhyamaka school), where all things are conventionally real but ultimately empty of intrinsic nature.
Eliminative MaterialismPhysicalism (eliminative)
Mind and body
BuddhismThe relationship is understood as interdependent and relational, lacking intrinsic self/substance. The illusion of a centralized mind or self is rejected.
Eliminative MaterialismThe mind is the brain. Patricia Churchland calls her program a ‘unified theory of the mind-brain’ and treats claims that mind goes beyond brain as the residue of folk myths.
Fundamental or emergent
BuddhismConventional reality constituted by relations. It is neither a primitive substance nor an emergent property in the typical Western sense, as the phenomenal self it describes is fundamentally illusory.
Eliminative MaterialismNeither
Qualia
BuddhismQualia ('what-it-is-like-ness') are rejected as real, intrinsic properties and are instead viewed as illusory, dissolving away in favor of a network of underlying processes.
Eliminative MaterialismQualia as folk psychology and philosophers conceive them are expected to give way to neuroscientific description; the view treats consciousness as a kind of illusion generated by the brain.
How it works
Mechanism
BuddhismThe principle of emptiness (lack of intrinsic nature) applied to all phenomena, resulting in the realization that phenomenal consciousness is a cognitive illusion.
Eliminative MaterialismTheory displacement. Folk psychology will be replaced the way outdated scientific theories were, its principles and ontology discarded rather than mapped onto brain states.
Where it is
BuddhismNon-localized. Consciousness is often understood relationally. The ninth consciousness (Buddha nature) is the fundamental, purest core.
Eliminative MaterialismIn the brain.
What it does
BuddhismThe inward-directed seventh consciousness causes the concept of self, which is the source of deception. The eighth consciousness stores karmic energy and persists across death, thus enabling rebirth.
Eliminative MaterialismBehavior is caused by neural processes; neuroscience is expected to explain it better than folk psychology does.
Evidence and criticism
Testability
BuddhismLargely conceptual, based on internal philosophical coherence and phenomenological insights gained via meditative practices. Empirical studies sometimes correlate high-level meditation states (nirodha-samāpatti) with measurable brain changes (reduced synchronization).
Eliminative MaterialismConceptually testable
Tests so far
BuddhismStudy of high meditative states (nirodha-samāpatti) showing reduced overall brain synchronization.
Eliminative MaterialismThe view stakes its claim on the future course of neuroscience; whether folk categories survive in mature brain science is the long-run test.
Criticisms
BuddhismWestern philosophers often find the core claim—that phenomenal consciousness is illusory—counter-intuitive and untenable. Internally, tension exists between the idealistic Yogācāra school and the relational Madhyamaka school.
Eliminative MaterialismCritics say denying subjective experience defies both intuition and direct evidence; Galen Strawson calls the denial of experience ‘the strangest thing that has ever happened in the whole history of human thought’. There is also tension between Patricia Churchland’s talk of reduction to neurobiology and the eliminativist claim that folk psychology will be displaced rather than reduced.
Sources
Key sources
Buddhism
- Engaging Buddhism, Jay L. Garfield (2015)
- Illusionism and givenness, Jay Garfield (2016)
- The Nine Consciousness (2022)
Eliminative Materialism
- Neurophilosophy, Patricia Churchland (1986)
- Churchland’s Eliminative Materialism (Landscape of Consciousness), Patricia Churchland