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Buddhism vs Descartes’s Substance Dualism

Buddhism’s Empty, Illusory Phenomenal Consciousness and Descartes’s Substance Dualism, compared field by field from their entries in the Atlas.

At a glance

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Idealism Buddhism’s Empty, Illusory Phenomenal Consciousness Nāgārjuna, Jay Garfield, Yifa
Dualism Descartes’s Substance Dualism René Descartes

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.
Descartes’s Substance DualismRené Descartes holds that consciousness, which he calls thought (cogitatio), is the essence of an immaterial thinking substance (res cogitans) wholly distinct from extended, mechanical body (res extensa). Every conscious state, from reasoning and willing to pain, color, and emotion, is a mode of the thinking thing and is immediately present to it. Sensations and passions, though, arise only in the union of mind and body, where brain processes stand in regular relations to experiences they do not resemble.
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).
Descartes’s Substance DualismConsciousness is thought, defined as everything that happens within us insofar as we are immediately conscious of it, and it is the principal attribute of the mind.

Big questions

Can AI be conscious?Differ
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.
Descartes’s Substance DualismNoSince thought belongs only to immaterial substance and matter is pure extension, a machine, however complex, would be mechanism without a mind.
Does consciousness survive death?Both agree
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').
Descartes’s Substance DualismYesDescartes presented the real distinction of soul and body as what makes the soul’s survival intelligible, and the Meditations announce that aim in their subtitle.
Could a mind be uploaded?Differ
BuddhismNot neededThe theory already provides a mechanism for persistence (the eighth consciousness) or transcendence (ninth consciousness), making artificial, digital duplication (virtual immortality) philosophically moot.
Descartes’s Substance DualismNoCopying the body’s mechanism would not copy the immaterial thinking substance.
Does it give life meaning?Both agree
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.
Descartes’s Substance DualismCosmic/UltimateDescartes’s system rests on a non-deceiving God who guarantees knowledge and created even the eternal truths.

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.
Descartes’s Substance DualismSubstance dualism (Cartesian)
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.
Descartes’s Substance DualismMind and body are really distinct finite substances with exclusive essences, thought and extension, and could by divine power exist apart. They are joined in the human being, where bodily motions give rise to sensations and the mind moves the body, though Descartes never explained that interaction satisfactorily.
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.
Descartes’s Substance DualismPrimitive
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.
Descartes’s Substance DualismSensory qualities are not properties of matter, which has only size, shape, motion, and arrangement. Experienced redness or pain is a mental mode arising in the embodied union and cannot be captured by extension.

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.
Descartes’s Substance DualismMechanism on the bodily side and non-reduction on the mental side. Light mechanically affects eyes, nerves, and brain, and the mind then experiences color, distance, and shape in regular correspondence with those motions.
Where it is
BuddhismNon-localized. Consciousness is often understood relationally. The ninth consciousness (Buddha nature) is the fundamental, purest core.
Descartes’s Substance DualismThe mind is unextended. Sensations and passions are felt as belonging to one’s own body, and Descartes located mind-brain communication in the pineal gland.
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.
Descartes’s Substance DualismPassions are caused and strengthened by movements of the animal spirits and dispose the soul toward volition and action. The will can in turn move the body.

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).
Descartes’s Substance DualismConceptually testable
Tests so far
BuddhismStudy of high meditative states (nirodha-samāpatti) showing reduced overall brain synchronization.
Descartes’s Substance DualismNot stated
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.
Descartes’s Substance DualismPrincess Elisabeth of Bohemia asked how an immaterial soul could move a material body, and the interaction problem remains unresolved. Arnauld and later critics charged circularity, since the proofs of God that guarantee clear and distinct perception themselves rely on clear and distinct perception. The standard reading denies consciousness to animals, which most now find implausible.

Sources

Key sources
Buddhism
  • Engaging Buddhism, Jay L. Garfield (2015)
  • Illusionism and givenness, Jay Garfield (2016)
  • The Nine Consciousness (2022)
Descartes’s Substance Dualism
  • Meditations on First Philosophy, René Descartes (trans. J. Cottingham, R. Stoothoff, and D. Murdoch) (1984)
  • Principles of Philosophy, René Descartes (trans. J. Cottingham, R. Stoothoff, and D. Murdoch) (1985)
  • The Passions of the Soul, René Descartes (trans. J. Cottingham, R. Stoothoff, and D. Murdoch) (1985)

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