WTF is a soul anyway?

[conuly]

I've asked this before, and I'll likely ask it again. What is it? Everytime something even remotely philosophical comes up, people justify whatever they do by calling "soul!".

They eat meat because animals don't have souls.
They don't eat meat because animals do have souls.
They are anti-abortion because the soul exists from conception.
They aren't anti-abortion because the soul develops later.

Well, that's about it, but man, people shout loudly on those subjects. Soul this, soul that, and nobody ever stops to ask "what on earth is so important?" because they think they know. That's nice. I don't know, and would like to actually understand all these nifty little arguments about whether or not embryos and animals and whatnot have souls. Maybe even participate.

Comments

[nightsea.livejournal.com]

Yeesh, you don't ask easy questions, do you.

I agree that self-awareness plays a large part in that concept that we call a 'soul,' and yes, that also applies to animals that have self-awareness. However, most animals are not self-aware (at least to the best of our knowledge which I feel is highly lacking), yet ask any pet owner and most of them would say that their beloved pet does have a soul. When I look into my dog's eyes, I could swear that there's something in there, but that's just me.

By and large, though, I think that people use the word 'soul' to refer to that which makes humans 'unique' in the world. Yes, we are animals, but we are also more than animals at the same time - the soul is what transforms us. Can we pinpoint what a soul is, and where it resides? Not yet. I can't point to a part of my body and say 'Here's where my soul is,' but yet many people don't claim that they lack a soul because of this.

In a similar vein, I recall reading something that the instant a person dies, they inexplicably lose a set amount of weight. This isn't tied to the last breath, or the expulsion of bodily waste - it's as if a part of them is simply.. gone. Could that be the soul escaping? Who knows. But it's still interesting.

[conuly]

Yeesh, you don't ask easy questions, do you.

No, not really. But I feel that if you're using a word, you should at least know what you mean when you say it.

In a similar vein, I recall reading something that the instant a person dies, they inexplicably lose a set amount of weight. This isn't tied to the last breath, or the expulsion of bodily waste - it's as if a part of them is simply.. gone. Could that be the soul escaping? Who knows. But it's still interesting.

I think that was disproven. I guess I could kill somebody to find out, but I doubt the state would sanction my experiments.