The Clash Between “Self as an End” and “No-Self”

The philosophical stance that the self is an end in itself asserts a real, continuous subject that grounds experience, agency, and meaning a core “I” to be cultivated and honored. In stark opposition, the Buddhist doctrine of no-self denies any permanent, independent self, viewing what we call “self” as a transient, conditioned process without fixed essence.

These positions are mutually exclusive: if there is no self, there is nothing stable or autonomous to be an end; if the self truly exists as an end, then the Buddhist denial is an ontological negation of that reality.