Abstract

This chapter examines the implications of the doctrine of emptiness for the Madhyamaka analysis of the crucial notion of causation. It is not uncommon in the contemporary commentarial tradition to see philosophers understanding the emptiness and conventional nature of causation, as advanced by Nāgārjuna, in terms of a Humean regularity account. This chapter argues that the Humean regularity account of causation is, in fact, incompatible with its emptiness, for where there are no necessary connections between cause and effect, cause and effect fail to be empty. The analysis evidences the utility of taking contemporary metaphysical approaches into Buddhist discussions and of bringing a Buddhist sensibility to contemporary metaphysics.