Kantians emphasize the separateness and distinctness of persons. Buddhists, on the other hand, emphasizes the interconnectedness and commonality of all persons and the continuity of all forms of life. The starting point of Buddhist ethics is the universality of suffering and the truth of interconnectedness. For Kant, the autonomy of the will is the source of the dignity of humanity. For Buddhists, the core values are wisdom and compassion, and they too are thoroughly interconnected and interdependent.

Since contemporary Kantians argue that the distinctness and separateness of persons is the key to a justification of deontological constraints, it is not clear how a Buddhist approach to ethics could incorporate constraints in its normative theory. This presentation focuses on the contrasting conceptions of the self in Buddhist and Kantian theories and argues that the Buddhist conception of the self is incompatible with contemporary Kantian deontology.