Difference between revisions of "Soul"

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(added analogy - " By analogy the Holy Spirit is the Soul of the Christian Church.")
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:''Not to be confused with [[Soul music]]''
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The '''soul''' is a vital concept within many [[religion|religious]] traditions, including [[Christianity]]. The soul is considered to be the eternal element of an individual.
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The '''soul''' is a person's essential self, the embodiment of his values. A soul is measured in moral rather than [[body|physical]] or [[mind|intellectual]] terms. It transcends the material world.
  
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Most Christians regard the soul as the immortal essence of a human - the seat or locus of human [[will]], [[understanding]], [[morality]] and/or [[personality]].
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Most [[Christian]]s regard the soul as the immortal essence of a [[human]] - the seat or locus of human [[will]], [[understanding]], [[morality]] and/or [[personality]]. When a person's physical body [[death|dies]], it is the soul that proceeds to the [[afterlife]] in [[Heaven]] or [[Hell]]. By [[analogy]] the [[Holy Spirit]] is the Soul of the [[Christianity|Christian Church]].
  
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Scientists generally ignore or dismiss the soul as unsuitable for study. To be precise, the [[methodological naturalism]] of modern science is unable to handle the concept of the soul. Anything which is not material is deliberately excluded from consideration, and as the soul is not a material thing scientists accordingly refuse to study it. This has implications for the study of human [[Psychology]].
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[[Atheist]]ic [[scientist]]s generally ignore or dismiss the soul as unsuitable for study. To be precise, the [[methodological naturalism]] of [[modern science]] is unable to handle the concept of the soul. Anything which is not material is deliberately excluded from consideration, and as the soul is not a material thing scientists accordingly refuse to study it. This has implications for the study of human [[psychology]], despite the fact that the word "psychology" is Latin for "study of the soul."  There is also the question of when the soul enters the body, as this is important for the debate on [[abortion]] from a theological position.
  
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==Criticisms of the soul==
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It should be noted that there was once a study made at the turn of the 20th century by Duncan MacDougall of the loss of [[weight]] at the time of death.  The scientist doing the measurements concluded that this loss of weight (approximately three quarters of an ounce) was due to the soul leaving the body.<ref>http://www.bio.miami.edu/dywang/Soul-Searching.html</ref> He also did a similar experiment with [[dog]]s, but found no change in weight, which would match the Chistian concept that of [[God]]'s [[creation]]s on the earth, humans alone have souls.  No known attempts to follow up his work have ever been made.
  
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Many of the functions which have been historically considered to be functions of the soul have now been determined to be produced by the brain. Areas have been found responsible for memory formation, speech and comprehension, personality, and even moral decisions (Citation needed). As the known capabilities of the brain increase, the remaining functions which can be assigned to the soul decrease.
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In [[religion]]s that believe in [[reincarnation]], such as [[Hinduism]], [[Buddhism]], [[Taoism]] and [[Jain]]ism, all [[animal]]s have souls, as they believe that a soul can be [[born]] into any animal after death. This is part of why the [[Jain]] religion and less so in [[Buddhism]], there are strict [[Five Precepts|prohibition]] against indiscriminately killing or harming living things.
  
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The soul is conveniently difficult to dispove - massless, invisible, passing through matter without interaction. No soul has ever been directly observed or indirectly detected - souls appear on no xray, CAT, MRI or other medical scan. Thus the existance of the soul cannot be disproven, and extensive searching has failed to prove it. In logic, this renders the theory highly suspect.
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==References==
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{{reflist}}
  
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Even among Christians, details of the soul are frequently debated. In particular, the moment at which a soul enters a human is a subject of contriversy due to its significence in relation to abortion. While many believe the soul enters an embryo at the moment of conception, others point out that this presents problems with the 'conservation' of souls in situations such as identical twins and chimeras, which result respectively in two individuals from one embryo and one individual from two or more. Were the soul to enter at conception, this would imply that identical twins have only half a soul, while chimeras have many. Attempts to determine later points at which an individual may aquire a soul have not produced a significent agreement.
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==See also==
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* [[Atman]]
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* [[Consciousness]] ([[Sanskrit]]: ''Alaya vignana'') in [[Buddhism]]
  
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[[category:religion]]
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[[Category:Religion]]
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[[category:philosophy]]
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[[Category:Philosophy]]
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[[Category:Buddhism]]

Revision as of 06:59, July 7, 2019

Not to be confused with Soul music

The soul is a person's essential self, the embodiment of his values. A soul is measured in moral rather than physical or intellectual terms. It transcends the material world.

Most Christians regard the soul as the immortal essence of a human - the seat or locus of human will, understanding, morality and/or personality. When a person's physical body dies, it is the soul that proceeds to the afterlife in Heaven or Hell. By analogy the Holy Spirit is the Soul of the Christian Church.

Atheistic scientists generally ignore or dismiss the soul as unsuitable for study. To be precise, the methodological naturalism of modern science is unable to handle the concept of the soul. Anything which is not material is deliberately excluded from consideration, and as the soul is not a material thing scientists accordingly refuse to study it. This has implications for the study of human psychology, despite the fact that the word "psychology" is Latin for "study of the soul." There is also the question of when the soul enters the body, as this is important for the debate on abortion from a theological position.

It should be noted that there was once a study made at the turn of the 20th century by Duncan MacDougall of the loss of weight at the time of death. The scientist doing the measurements concluded that this loss of weight (approximately three quarters of an ounce) was due to the soul leaving the body.[1] He also did a similar experiment with dogs, but found no change in weight, which would match the Chistian concept that of God's creations on the earth, humans alone have souls. No known attempts to follow up his work have ever been made.

In religions that believe in reincarnation, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and Jainism, all animals have souls, as they believe that a soul can be born into any animal after death. This is part of why the Jain religion and less so in Buddhism, there are strict prohibition against indiscriminately killing or harming living things.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.bio.miami.edu/dywang/Soul-Searching.html

See also

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