Within Reason #165 Buddhist Emptiness Explained - Jan Westerhoff
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Aug 31, 2026 
Jan Westerhoff, Oxford Professor of Buddhist Philosophy, explores Nāgārjuna’s Middle Way and the Madhyamaka tradition. They discuss ontological nihilism, foundationalism, beginningless causation, and comparisons with Kant. The conversation examines emptiness, selflessness, consciousness, and how a reality without intrinsic substance connects to freedom from suffering.
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Presentism Turns Causation Into A Mental Relation
- Presentism makes only the present moment real, so a cause and effect cannot coexist as independently existing relata.
- Memory and anticipation supply the absent side, making causation partly dependent on conceptual activity.
Madhyamaka Goes Beyond Kantian Noumena
- Madhyamaka resembles Kant in treating time and space as mind-related and distinguishing conventional from ultimate perspectives.
- Unlike Kant, it does not present emptiness as the final, ultimately true theory.
Emptiness Means Lacking Intrinsic Nature
- Emptiness means lacking svabhāva, or intrinsic nature, rather than literal nonexistence.
- A lamp depends on its parts, while even purportedly fundamental parts remain conceptually or materially dependent.
