Please help dh with his philosophy assignment

[Melinda S in TX]

My name is Steven, I'm taking a philosophy class this semester. My instructor has tasked me to ask different people (differing in religion or philosophy preferably, the more diverse the better) what they perceive the nature of the human soul is. So, do I have any volunteers? My wife tells me you folks can help me out!

 

 

First of all, let me tell you what Plato and Aristotle believed about the soul. Plato believed that the human soul is divided into three parts: reason (logical decision making), spirit (part concerned with honor), and appetite (feed me!). For example, a student has been invited to a party, but has an important exam early the next morning. Reason would say, “Stay home, study, and get a good night's sleep to prepare for the test.†Appetite would say, “I love partying, let's go! Will they have pizza, I love pizza!†Honor would say, “I've have to get an A in this class. But my friends are important and they want me to go. Oh my, what do I do?†Plato felt that a just, or virtuous soul, would be one that all parts function in balance and in harmony. For example, too much yielding to appetite can lead to problems, just as too much reason or too much spirit (sense of honor) could lead to problems.

 

 

Aristotle, who was Plato's student, had a different take on the soul. Aristotle felt that the soul was inseparable from the body, since the body cannot exist without a soul. Aristotle believed in three kinds of soul, nutritive (absorbs food, transforms for bodily use, very basic), sentient (registers information without becoming what it observes; like touch or vision), and rational (capable of analyzing, understanding, and deliberating). These are in order of complexity, nutritive being the most basic). Higher level creatures (like humans) possess all three, lower level creatures do not.

 

 

 

 

That being said, here are the questions:

 

 

 

 

1. What do you perceive the soul to be?
   
2. How did the soul come into being?
   
3. How do you believe the soul functions?
   

 

 

 

Thanks in advance!

[Chris in VA]

I'll give it a go--I'm Christian, but I don't claim that this is a Christian take on the soul, because it's just what I believe--but it may be fully orthodox Christian, too, and probably is.

 

The soul is inseparable from the body, until death. It is created by God at the same moment the body is created (conception). It is not pre-existent (that is, it does not "come down from heaven and inhabit the body"). The soul contains that which is essential to an inner, spiritual life, but it is not solely that (hahaha--a little "soul humor" for ya). It's sort of like the Holy Trinity, in that it appears separate sometimes, but really isn't.

[Pegasus]

Atheist.

 

1. The concept of a soul is a human construct to allow a person to believe they will always exist in some form.

2. The universal fear of death is the reason why the concept of a soul was formed.

3. The things we attribute to a soul are merely biological processes.

[Jenny in Florida]

Religious Agnostic

 

(For me, this means that I'm an active member of a church (Unitarian Universalist, in my case) and have a dearly held system of values and ethics and participate in worship, even though I have no idea whether there is a god or afterlife or any of it.)

 

Let's see if I can answer your questions:

 

1. Like most other common religious ideas, I consider the "soul" a kind of metaphor, in this case for the essential aspects of a person. I'm not at all convinced there is a real soul, as in something that lives beyond a person's death and potentially has some kind of existence past the life of it's physical body. But I also don't really care if there is. For me, knowing and understanding are not the point of religion.

 

The term "soul," however, is handy for describing what is most valuable about a person. So, I might say that my daughter is "an old soul," because she seems more emotionally evolved and mature than most people I meet of any age. But that doesn't mean I actually think she is literally the reincarnation of a soul that has existed before.

 

2. I'm not convinced it has come into being. But I guess I would say that each of us defines and works on his or her own soul based on our actions.

 

3. I have no clue how the soul functions. It's not important to my religious or spiritual life to know.

Edited April 30, 2011 by Jenny in Florida

[Mergath]

We're Pagans with a touch of Buddhist. :001_smile:

 

1. I think the soul is the energy of a living thing. I believe a soul can learn and grow, but I don't see it as a person's personality, and I don't think it carries memory. At least, not in the way we think of memory.

 

2. I think the soul came into being when life did. It wasn't created by a deity, but is just part of the package when you have life.

 

3. No idea. I don't know whether or not it is something scientifically quantifiable, or is somehow outside our realm of understanding. I'm not too worried about it.

[The Girls' Mom]

I'm Christian.

 

What do you perceive the soul to be?

 

I perceive it to be the essense of who we are. It's what makes us human.

 

How did the soul come into being? God created us and gave us our souls.

 

How do you believe the soul functions? I believe it is tied to our earthly body until that body dies. The soul, however, is eternal and will continue to exist past the death of our flesh. (where it continues to exist is dependent upon your acceptence or rejection of God and Christ) I believe the soul operates as our will, our desires, our personalities, and our sense of morality. It is the part of us that was created in God's image.

[kchara]

I'm no philsopher, but I'll try. :) (I am a Christian, but my beliefs are by no mean mainstream Christianity, so take them FWIW. ;) )

 

1. What do you perceive the soul to be? The soul is the essence of who we are. It's what makes us "in God's image." It is intrinsically tied to our physical bodies. Without a body, there can be no life, and without a soul, there can be no life. They are co-dependent. At death, the soul goes into a state of sleep, from which we get the Scriptures that "the dead know nothing." We await Christ's return in the grave, at which time the soul and body will be resurrected.

 

2. How did the soul come into being? God gives us our soul at conception.

 

 

3. How do you believe the soul functions? This one is a bit difficult, so I'm going to give it a shot, but not sure I'll make much sense. The soul functions as, well, us. Who we are at both a primal, base level and at a holy level. I don't believe there is a separation of the soul, it is what it simply is.

[Erika in TX]

I'm a Latter-Day Saint. :001_smile:

 

1. What do you perceive the soul to be? My soul is who I am at my very core. It separates me from all other forms of creation.
   
2. How did the soul come into being? My soul was formed in a pre-mortal existance by my Heavenly father. At conception, it was "bonded" with my body, never to be separated until after death.
   
3. How do you believe the soul functions?My soul allows me to commune with the Holy Spirit thereby helping me to become more like Jesus Christ. It gives me life and continues to exist after I die. After death, it is re-united with Heavenly Father to exist for eternity.
   

[Ester Maria]

 

 

1. What do you perceive the soul to be?

2. How did the soul come into being?

3. How do you believe the soul functions?

 

 

As an atheist (this is a bit simplified, though):

 

1. What we call "a soul" should, in fact, be called "a mind": all of those cognitive qualities, emotions, experiences and the way we deal with them, etc., which make up our personality.

 

2. The mind (as in, that complex "software" of a person described in the previous question) is somehow, and we do not fully scientifically understand yet how, generated by the brain (i.e. the physical "box", the "hardware" of wires which transmit and somehow contain that information). The software does not really "exist" outside of its hardware, it is, in a way, a set of functions of that hardware.

 

3. We do not know scientifically the details on how the brain generates the mind, but there are more than enough evidence which support a fundamental primacy of the brain (the matter). For example, many mental illnesses can be treated chemically, i.e. by altering, on a physical level, something in the brain, which then produces the effect in the mind (soul / personality / etc.). So, however it works, it works with the primacy of hardware and does not exist as independent reality outside of it.

 

 

As a (bad and not very observant, currently shabat-breaking) Jew (this might not be the universal opinion):

 

1. The soul is what is primary, the body is secondary (though, as all nature, carrying a certain varying degree of "holiness" too): when a man is made "after God", what is actually meant is a sort of spiritual correspondence, not a physical one; if anything, the particular form the body takes serves to comprehend the divine nature better (i.e. we have hands in the first place to be able to draw some sort of conclusion about connections between things when "the hand of God" is mentioned; our nature is modeled after what we are supposed to learn and understand to the best of our abilities).

The body is therefore a capsula, with physical functions stemming from the physical laws in nature, with the soul being a spark of Godliness, the essence, captured in it and intertwined with the worldly physical nature of body. Everything existing has a "soul", but there are various types of souls.

 

2. God assigned it to a particular body. Or, even better, vice-versa: God assigned a particular body, a particular physical place and context in the world, to an invidiual soul, in accordance with its purpose and place.

 

3. Intellectually, morally and spiritually, carrying the "self", while intertwined with the body in which it resides. Connects itself to God. What happens after death, and what will be its relationship with its body, I guess we will see. :D

Edited April 30, 2011 by Ester Maria

[Trish]

Our soul is the portion of ourselves, gifted to us by God, that has God's nature in it. The soul comes into being by an act of creation of God. (or you could look at it that God divests a part of himself into an individual)

 

As such, God's goal is to bring the soul to return to him.

 

The soul has much more knowledge than we do, as it comes from God. That is one of the reasons Christians are instructed to pray often. God has important spiritual information for us, it is contained in the soul (which contains God). Thus the scripture:

 

Neither shall they say: Behold here, or behold there. For lo, the kingdom of God is within you. ~ Luke 17:21

 

So, we need to learn to converse with our soul (God, within our soul), and this is best achieved through deep contemplative prayer.

 

:Angel_anim:

[kalanamak]

Atheist.

 

1. The concept of a soul is a human construct to allow a person to believe they will always exist in some form.

2. The universal fear of death is the reason why the concept of a soul was formed.

3. The things we attribute to a soul are merely biological processes.

 

:) You used some of the words I automatically came up with.

 

Non-religious doubter, what I call an apathist (whether there is a deity or not is not a matter of interest to me).

1) It is a human construct.

2) The concept formed as a useful byproduct of our self-consciousness, I suspect, which is the result of biological processes.

3) Since I do not think a soul is a real thing, I don't believe it functions at all. What the concept of the soul does for people is to allow a unity of action in the face of adversity (war) or an explanation of various common thoughts and feelings we humans have. Plus, we are creatures who want to explain things. It is part of our success, biologically. So, when we hit something really too big for most of us to explain, out trots a non-material answer, the whole tribe nods their heads, and everyone goes to sleep easier. :001_smile:

[SailorMom]

I'm a deist, but I have compiled my views of the soul from multiple sources - Hinduism and Budhism, Christianity, animism, etc... and also string theory and m-theory from physics. This will not make sense - with such a short explaination - unless you are familiar with all of those :)

 

First, let me say that I think we are not evolved enough to really understand the afterlife or the soul until we are a part of it. If you've ever read Flatland - we're the 2-D shapes trying to concieve a 3-D world.

 

Anyway - I believe that the entire universe is made of a vibrating strings, almost a symphony of musical tones that we just can't hear, and that each particle forms based on the way its strings vibrate. Our souls are part of that vibration, in this case - pure energy, and when we die, we become one again with all the universe, with the Creator (whomever or whatever that may be), and each other.

 

I have no idea exactly how it started, but it is truly amazing how well the Hindu version of creation fits with string theory :) The "first mover", "god", whatever you want to refer to it as, somehow got the sound and vibration in motion. The Hindu's believe this is the "Ohm" sound - that if you get the sound right, you are becoming one with creation (as this is the sound that created everything). So, maybe "God" sang us into being.

 

I believe every living thing has a soul - including plants. We are all infused with the original energy of creation.

 

As far as the biological processes - I don't see why the two are exclusive or seperate. Of course our bilogical process have a lot to do with how we feel and think, but why does this necesarrily take the soul out of the equation? Lust and desire, crushes, infatuation - biological. The true love that forms over time (years and year) - the soul. I think there is a large amount of crossover we just don't understand yet.

Edited April 30, 2011 by SailorMom

[chiguirre]

 

1. What do you perceive the soul to be?

2. How did the soul come into being?

3. How do you believe the soul functions?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

1. I don't really like the term soul, I prefer mind because I don't think it's immortal.

 

2. The mind is generated by the physical structures of the brain.

 

3. I don't know how the mind is generated by the brain and nobody else does yet either, but we're working on it. I'm sure we're heading in the right direction because of all the interesting studies that link aspects of human personality and even religious experience to specific areas of the brain.

[ereks mom]

...that a human consists of a spirit and a body. The two of these combine to make a soul. The Bible says that God formed man's body out of the ground, and breathed into the body the breath of life (spirit), so that "the man became a living soul". A person is not a body with a soul; he is a soul with a body that is made alive by a spirit.

Edited April 30, 2011 by ereks mom

[Guest lifefeedsonlife]

Recovering former Worldwide Church of God Member:

 

 

1. What do you perceive the soul to be? I don't believe in the 'soul' as something that most faiths define it as. The word "nephesh" biblically is very important as the word 'soul' is used in English in place of nephesh. Nephesh literally means a living thing. A soul is simply a living thing, with the breath of life. In the biblical sense - it is not eternal, it is not "something other than flesh." Both man and beasts are souls in that sense. I'm also of the mind that 'soul' (meaning a living thing) has a very broad application in that 'life' is more than what we tend to narrowly define it as . . .
   
2. How did the soul come into being? Depends on whom you ask. As someone who thinks that the belief system of animism has some merit (especially when one considers the possibility that String Theory is 'the bottom line') . . . everything is a soul. I'm not so sure that anything is inanimate when looked at from a wider perspective. So - given current cosmological thought . . . 'soul' came into being when the physical universe was created.
   
3. How do you believe the soul functions. It exists . . . and in the end there is no separation of 'souls' as there is really only one "soul" that we are singing within . . . that being said . . . I think my portion of the soul 'functions' best when I observe, experience and interact throughout my existence with a heart of gratitude and humilty . . . .
   

Pretty simple - right?

[Melinda S in TX]

Got an A!

 

Ladies, thank you SO MUCH for the feedback! Your input was a lot like going to Golden Corral, there was a little bit of everything, a heckuva lot more than I could ever get on one plate, and definitely left me full :) (Now I'm getting hungry!)

 

I'm only halfway through the course, you may be hearing from me again. Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and Thomas Aquinas this week. Thanks again!

 

Blessings!

 

--Steven

[Emerkaza]

Hi Steven,

 

I'm a Christian.

 

I believe the soul is literally "who" we are. Our body is a shell. I like to say that I am not a human being on a spiritual journey, I am a spiritual being on a human journey.

 

Our soul was conceived/born when we were. When our body dies, our soul will leave it and join God in Heaven.

 

I see the main function of a soul as a sort of moral compass. I believe the body needs to be fed with food and water. But the soul requires spiritual nourishment: prayer, fellowship, teaching, etc.