Do people have souls???

[DutchAssassin8]

So i have to do this essay on souls for my philosofy class, and i just wanted to hear some differtent views on the case.

I dont think we have souls and that were just animals, biological robots, doing what our brains tells us to do with the help of pheromones, hormones etc. I base this on 3 things:
1 There is no scientific proof suggesting we have souls
2 Almost everything we feel can be explained by chemicals in our head (and other parts ). Even things such as love and affection.
3 I'm an atheist therefore i believe the excistance of souls would also open up a possibility for the excistance of deities.

What do you think + arguments for your opinion.
Have Fun!
(remember, this is a philosofical argument. No hating on other people for their believes etc)
Excuse me for my crappy English.

 

[Rhymenoceros]

Hmm. I have never actually thought about it before...
I guess there is no evidence for people having souls so really there isn't anything for me to think that, however I find the idea that we're just slaves to chemicals in our bodies slightly disturbing.

I'm gonna go sit in a corner and think now
possibly going insane

 

[TeH PizZa Guy]

I know that I don't, sold it some time ago to a red guy, we hang out every other week.

Also, no. Its made up by crazy people long ago.

 

[The Night Shade]

No we don't but a soul may be an interpretation of human being

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

What was the saying...?
"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"?
I think that works here. Right now, we have no way of proving we have souls, or we have no souls.
As such, I keep an open mind. Maybe we do, maybe we don't.
Doesn't stop me from using them as a commodity.

 

[Blind Sight]

I don't think so, I think that people just regularly confuse their 'minds' with their 'souls' (and even then, your mind is just a bunch of electrical and chemical responses in gray mushy matter).

Occam's Razor, the simplest answer is the right one. We have no solid evidence to support the existance of a soul, and therefore, at this time we must accept the fact that it probably doesn't exist.

 

[Manicotti]

A kind of morbid argument against the concept that we don't have souls - suicide contradicts all of our natural instincts toward preservation of the self and the species. That and I don't believe we would go to all the hassle of suffering so much (even to death) for things we care about, especially abstract things like the ideas of love and beauty, just to satisfy a couple chemical imbalances.

Personally, I find the question irrelevant, mostly because I'm more interested in how people treat each other while they're alive. We're all pretty much fully conscious of our actions and contributions towards society and lack thereof, so if we don't appear to have souls, it's more that we have them but forgot what they're for.

 

[Harlemura]

I like to think we do, because I like to think when we die, we turn into ghosts. And a ghost would be that person's personality but with the body missing. So, basically, their soul.

I don't have any evidence to back this up, it's just nicer thinking this than thinking I hang about for 60 or so more years, kick the bucket and then face eternity in nothingness.

 

[Something Amyss]

Ask yourself this: have you, or have you ever heard anyone say, "my body"?

Yes, but selling your body has a different context.

Jokes about "selling your soul" aside, the idea behind something more than your body is that there are consequences beyond what you do to your physical form. People want to live forever, something we can't do. It's hard not to want there to be something beyond this.

And, if you follow human behaviour, people conflate "want it to be true" with "is true."

 

[Gigaguy64]

I believe so.

I believed that we exist in 3 parts.

A Physical body.
A Mind/Soul(also our Self or Personality).
And then a Spirit.

With all three tied to each other, so something you do to your body can effect your soul and spirit, and vice versa.

Though im the type of person who doesn't rule things out because of a lack of evidence, especially a lack of evidence both ways.

 

[AceAngel]

The question should be 'What is a soul?"....

 

[Ampersand]

I can say beyond all reasonable doubt that we don't have souls. There's just no reason to assume that we do.

 

[vanthebaron]

no a soul is a creation for the who "immortality" kick religion's been on for ever. we die then we rot, that's it.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Before we could adequately answer that we must first come to a common understanding on what a soul is.

 

[cke]

Don't think so.
Fully agree with OP, Occam's razor FTW.

 

[TomLikesGuitar]

I'm pretty sure all the women I've ever had a relationship with don't...