Do we posess a soul, or is it all chemical?

[esin]

Now, since all things are made of matter and have weight, that 3/4 of an ounce could be assumed to be your soul.

Ask yourself this; if none of us feared death, would we really even have come up with the idea of a soul in the first place? It just sounds like wishful thinking.

Fun fact, he wasn't trying to prove you have a soul, he was attempting to disprove dead weight (the theory that you gain weight while dieing which explains why it is harder to move towards the end of life). It was after his first test that he saw the weight loss and thought he screwed up. Then it happened 3 or 4 more times, excluding the ones where the methodology was ruined. One scale was tampered with so no accurate reading was recorded (guy lost too much weight) and another died within 5 minutes of hitting the table so no baseline was formed.

I don't fear death, I just find this test fascinating and it is a form of scientific proof that there is a soul. Only problem is that it needs to be done again with modern technology to lock it into place for a full debunk or prove.

Fun Fact, I was never disputing what he was testing or proving. I was disputing your baseless view that is 'scientific proof of a soul'. Absolutely nothing was proved there save for the fact that weight was lost and there is absolutely nothing to indicate that that weight had anything whatsoever to do with a 'soul'. That's just playing a game of Ad-Libs with things you don't yet fully understand.

 

[LordWalter]

Hello, fellow escapists,

Subject covers my question to you. For me, I think certain thoughts or actions are based on the chemical compounds in our brain. But in general, I think we do posess a soul, wherever (in our body) that may be. So, any thoughts on this one?

*Edit: My thought on 'having a soul' is this: the 'thing' that motivates your actions and/or thoughts.

If you're asking about consciousness, yes, we have it. If you're implying we have something supernatural that isn't a product of matter, then no.

 

[2xDouble]

"There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in this man's mortal fancy..." - William Shakespere, "Hamlet".

Is there a soul? Absolutely. Nobody, even the "it's just chemicals" supporters, dispute that. You must assume that it exists to speculate on how it works. The question is, as I've postulated, "How does it work?". Is it mystical energy? a form of magic? a divine miracle? or a product of chemicals? Science cannot answer where it comes from, what is its purpose, why does it work, what happens to it when you die, etc.. Religion and mysticism cannot (or rather, do not) examine the mechanics of what exactly it is, what it does, how to define it, etc.. The answer lies somewhere in between.

Scientists, philosophers, and all sorts of scholars have been struggling with this very question for centuries and odds are we'll never reach a satisfactory conclusion from any one angle. So the question must inevitably become "What do you, personally, think?"

"We've all been dancing around the basic issue: does Data have a soul? I don't know that he has. I don't know that I have. But I believe that he has the right to discover that for himself..." - JAG Capt. Philipa Louvois, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Episode 34 (or 2:09): "The Measure of a Man" (thank you, IMDB.com [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708807/], lol)

 

[LordWalter]

Hello, fellow escapists,

Subject covers my question to you. For me, I think certain thoughts or actions are based on the chemical compounds in our brain. But in general, I think we do posess a soul, wherever (in our body) that may be. So, any thoughts on this one?

*Edit: My thought on 'having a soul' is this: the 'thing' that motivates your actions and/or thoughts.

If you're asking about consciousness, yes, we have it. If you're implying we have something supernatural that isn't a product of matter, then no, there is no good evidence to suggest that.

 

[Jack_Uzi]

I'l just leave this here...


It's not just about animals having souls, but the subject on souls altogether. It's my opinion on this subject.

Thanks for the very interesting vid! And off-topic: Cool avatar from a very great movie!

Though I didn't start this topic out of a religious perspective, it's funny to see how people intwine it (not funny in a mocking way). Though in some of my thoughts I tend to be slightly nihilistic, I still can't stand the notion that we are all here 'just because' (with the compliments of me lacking a better way to explain it). That still doesn't make no sence to me.
This doesn't have to involve heaven or hell or god or whatever, and not even a 'higher purpouse' or arrogant stance towards us being better than all the other things on earth.
But I still am curious about our beings and that's why I started this topic.

Thanks by the way everyone for posting your thoughts!!

 

[Vhite]

I like to think that Im more then just bunch of cells and chemicals.

 

[oktalist]

I don't believe in a soul. I believe in a fnarr. Much more sensible. They orbit around our heads and if you could see them, they would be blue.

 

[ultimateownage]

There is no soul. Not mentioning how there isn't a true definition for soul. It's just your brain thinking things, a soul is basically the part of your brain which makes you act selflessly or have 'Human' emotions. So no, souls are bullshit.

 

[[.redacted]]

I don't have a soul.

Dunno about you guys, though.

 

[Plurralbles]

When one loses consciousness there is no thought process. It jumps from the time they fll into the state to the moment they popped out of it. I believe death will be like falling unconscious but never coming out of it. It's hard to believe it woudl change for someone who actually fully died.

 

[Plurralbles]

I don't have a soul.

Dunno about you guys, though.

so... you're a ginger?

: D

 

[Canadian Briton]

I hope we have a soul. Like how I hope there is an afterlife. Infact if I knew something supernatural existed it would comfort and scare me at the same time. As that means the Idea of a God or an afterlife is plausible.

 

[mrF00bar]

I have heard a few different ideas about the soul, I don't know if any of them could be close to the truth but I like to think I do have a soul.

 

[crazyguy668]

i wish i had the link, but a really long time ago i read some study by a scientist showed that when people die, they lose 7 ounces(or was it grams?) of weight, but animals do not. Possibly a soul???

i personally believe there is a soul, its what makes us different from animals. No one really knows for sure so all those people saying "NO" have no idea for sure

 

[Goldeneye103X2]

That's a very good question. In my own opinion our soul isn't so much that thing that goes to heaven when you die, but more the concept behind the mind. If I mercilessly kill a man, then I'm not using my soul properly, but if I then regret it, then my soul takes forth action and attempts to make me redeem myself.

So it's sort of like the automatic emergency regret button in our mind that kicks in when we want to lead a better life.

 

[deathbydeath]

i'm a ginger so i know for sure that i don't have a soul

 

[GLo Jones]

For me, I think certain thoughts or actions are based on the chemical compounds in our brain.

This. As far as I'm concerned, no-one has a soul. We are motivated only through instinct/conditioned behaviour/emotional response.

 

[yanipheonu]

Well if there is a soul, it probably exists in "pure consiousness". Which is really tricky because that means it's not hindered by memory amd is all in all hard to describe. So even if you can reach a state where you understand what your soul is, it'd be nearly impossible to articulate, outside of trippy zen metaphors.

That said, crazy shit happens with ghosts and such, so who knows. Maybe your soul is like an energy imprint you leave in the world even after you die.

 

[Jack_Uzi]

For me, I think certain thoughts or actions are based on the chemical compounds in our brain.

This. As far as I'm concerned, no-one has a soul. We are motivated only through instinct/conditioned behaviour/emotional response.

That's not, with all respect, in the context what I've written down. The point you quoted me on (I should have explaind it more proper, come to think of it) is about things like adrenaline that comes from excitement or the (dopamine?) that comes free when tickled and makes you laugh. But not the over-all things that make us do what we do or don't under normal circumstances.