Volume-XII, Issue-IV, July 2026 |
David Hume's Bundle Theory and the Buddha's Doctrine of Non-Self: A Comparative Philosophical Study Dr. Kuheli Biswas, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal, India Shakespeare Malita, Independent Research Scholar, West Bengal, India |
Received: 22.07.2026 | Accepted: 26.07.2026 | Published Online: 31.07.2026 | Page No: 78-86 | ||||
DOI: 10.29032/ijhsss.vol.12.issue.04W.347 | |||||||
ABSTRACT | ||
This paper provides a comparative overview of the Bundle Theory of the self as developed by David Hume and the Buddha's teaching on non-self (anattā), focusing on the modalities, distinctions and implications. Both thinkers agree that there is no permanent, unchanging self and both reject what is commonly understood to be personal identity, believing instead that our personal identity is a mass of constantly changing mental and physical processes. Hume argues that when you look inside yourself you only find a bundle of perceptions, impressions, emotions and memories, not a self amongst them. Likewise, Buddhism teaches about the nature of humans using the concept of the Five Aggregates (form, feelings, perception, mental formations, consciousness), which are impermanent (Anicca), and have no permanent Self . Their similarities notwithstanding, their philosophies are very distinct. Hume's theory could be understood as being in the context of empiricism and epistemological skepticism, intending to explain the phenomenon of personal identity through ideas of psychological continuity and association of ideas. The Buddha, by contrast, adheres to the core tenets of the Buddhist ethical and soteriological system, namely dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda), Karma, Compassion and Liberation from suffering (nirvāṇa).According to Buddhism, attachment and ignorance and suffering are the cause of believing that the self is a permanent entity. Hume argues that the self is a fiction and is supported by the memory and imagination and not a fact. However, the paper looks at the practical implications of both theories for the moral, conscious and personal identity issues, and underscores their continued relevance to current debates in contemporary philosophy, psychology and neuroscience, and cognitive science. It rounds up the contributions of Hume and the Buddha, whose answers to the question of self, though of very different intellectual and cultural background, are both strong arguments that are key to Contemporary issues concerning the nature of human identity and human consciousness. | ||
Keywords: Bundle Theory, anattā (Non-Self), Personal Identity, Five Aggregates (Skandhas), Impermanence (Anicca), Dependent Origination (pratītyasamutpāda), Consciousness, Empiricism; Comparative Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind. |