Souls- Do we have them?

[AdjectiveAnimal]

No, I see people simply as biological machines.

 

[Avatar Roku]

Dude, this is an internet forum. What use is any of this discussion? Just lighten up and have fun with it.

But...I did. Did you think me bringing up invisible ass fairies was serious? And discussions are useful, as they make you think.

My bad, I worded that poorly. All I meant to say was that, although discussions can be useful (we're all here for that purpose, aren't we?), attacking a single discussion for being of less use than another is idiotic. If you can't entertain the notions of the thread, why even post?

 

[zoozilla]

If human beings did not have a soul (or anything that is more than our external being), how would we be able to come up with the concept?

Doesn't the fact that you are wondering about the soul imply that the soul exists?

I've often wondered about a legion of flying pigs, does that imply that they exist on this plane of reality?
EDIT: In order to prevent misconceptions, I'm attacking your logic, not you or the idea.

How dare you attack me and the idea I presented!

Well, people both know the concept of flight and the concept of a pig, so putting those together isn't necessarily completely a "new" idea.

The idea of the soul is so vague and mystical that it seems unlikely that human beings would be able to invent such a concept.

I don't necessarily agree with the idea, I just think it's very interesting.

The same thing can be applied to beauty, as Aristotle did (now I'm getting brainy). He believed that human beings must have inherently understood the concept of beauty instead of seeing beautiful objects and attaching the word "beauty" to them. He argued that things like sunsets or roses are completely different, but we still think of them both as "beautiful". How could we have attached the same concept to two completely different objects if we did not already have some concept of "beauty"?

 

[James Cassidy]

According to everyone who believes in logic.

We are made from nothing. I said "from" not "of" We are made OF atoms and molecules and what not, but according science whizzes we come from nothing. Big Bang to them happened for no reason other than molecules colliding, but never explained where from.

You humans and your logistic bore me as you believe in things that you cannot even fathom. You puny humans couldn't understand such things thus you say they don't exist.

You all think that just because you can't explain something means it can't exist. Some even have evidence and you guys still don't believe in it.

Ghost for example. Numerous of reports all around the world about ghosts and some of you still don't believe. Miracles happen day by day and yet you refuse to believe it because "logic" does not explain it well enough to exist.

So I will just say this.....what logic do you have to exist? Just a cosmic coincidence or something more?

 

[Kogarian]

But...I did. Did you think me bringing up invisible ass fairies was serious? And discussions are useful, as they make you think.

My bad, I worded that poorly. All I meant to say was that, although discussions can be useful (we're all here for that purpose, aren't we?), attacking a single discussion for being of less use than another is idiotic. If you can't entertain the notions of the thread, why even post?

In your own words:

to 'have fun with it'.

And what, pray tell, makes you think every discussion is equal to one another? Take in account ones that are made by trolls, or the member who made a thread just so he could get his 100th post (and was put on probation for it).

 

[A Playful Shark]

But...I did. Did you think me bringing up invisible ass fairies was serious? And discussions are useful, as they make you think.

My bad, I worded that poorly. All I meant to say was that, although discussions can be useful (we're all here for that purpose, aren't we?), attacking a single discussion for being of less use than another is idiotic. If you can't entertain the notions of the thread, why even post?

In your own words:

to 'have fun with it'.

And what, pray tell, makes you think every discussion is equal to one another? Take in account ones that are made by trolls, or the member who made a thread just so he could get his 100th post (and was put on probation for it).

Yes, there is a difference between a discussion about issue x or topic y, and a troll.

Making threads about landmark posts is normal, and well accepted on some forums.
Guess he hasn't settled in enough yet!

 

[ShadeOfRed]

If human beings did not have a soul (or anything that is more than our external being), how would we be able to come up with the concept?

Doesn't the fact that you are wondering about the soul imply that the soul exists?

I've often wondered about a legion of flying pigs, does that imply that they exist on this plane of reality?
EDIT: In order to prevent misconceptions, I'm attacking your logic, not you or the idea.

How dare you attack me and the idea I presented!

Well, people both know the concept of flight and the concept of a pig, so putting those together isn't necessarily completely a "new" idea.

The idea of the soul is so vague and mystical that it seems unlikely that human beings would be able to invent such a concept.

I don't necessarily agree with the idea, I just think it's very interesting.

The same thing can be applied to beauty, as Aristotle did (now I'm getting brainy). He believed that human beings must have inherently understood the concept of beauty instead of seeing beautiful objects and attaching the word "beauty" to them. He argued that things like sunsets or roses are completely different, but we still think of them both as "beautiful". How could we have attached the same concept to two completely different objects if we did not already have some concept of "beauty"?

Futching Atistotle, ruining everything I do.
I don't really see beauty as vague and mystical as you see the soul. Beauty is an awe-inspiring event or view. The things that meet such critera are vague, but the idea itself is pretty concise. What meets the critera for the soul, when such critera is, well, disputed. In the fiction and ideas I've read, it's been the centre of emotion, the thing that goes to heaven in place of your body, the means of ressurection, controllable, uncontrollable, your entire range of subconcious, it's just been so many things, no one really knows what it is. The idea, I mean. It also doesn't help that some of the fiction and ideas on it also say it doesn't exist.

 

[PurpleRain]

There are quite a few closed minded people here. I understand that we are just meat bags, but the outlook on souls are, that something has to be behind these sack of meat to really work.

There's no real evidence either which way, so I can't actually give a real answer. Pretty much how Steeveeo exclaimed it.

According to everyone who believes in logic.

We are made from nothing. I said "from" not "of" We are made OF atoms and molecules and what not, but according science whizzes we come from nothing. Big Bang to them happened for no reason other than molecules colliding, but never explained where from.

You humans and your logistic bore me as you believe in things that you cannot even fathom. You puny humans couldn't understand such things thus you say they don't exist.

You all think that just because you can't explain something means it can't exist. Some even have evidence and you guys still don't believe in it.

Ghost for example. Numerous of reports all around the world about ghosts and some of you still don't believe. Miracles happen day by day and yet you refuse to believe it because "logic" does not explain it well enough to exist.

So I will just say this.....what logic do you have to exist? Just a cosmic coincidence or something more?

I agree. Pfft, locic just sees the physical side of things. You can't really say there is more planes of exsistance that we live on when logic is only so narrow minded to atoms.

 

[101194]

Nope, Blizzard came and surgically removed it from me about two years ago Woot!

 

[ssgt splatter]

OK, first of all you are depressing me with your blunt description.
Second, Yes I'd like to believe in life after death.

 

[Drakenian]

This is a very good topic. Before, I've never really thought about it, but I've always believed that we, as humans, have souls. My reason, well let me explain...

I understand the view that what defines us and who we truly are is determined in the brain, but I believe that the brain is only the intellectual makeup of who we are. For example, I believe the brain determines your intelligence and how you learn certain things, but I think the soul determines your emotional and psychological makeup, like how you view certain things and how you feel about the ethics of things.

In a nutshell, I believe the brain and soul combine to make up exactly what and who you are as a person.

So yes, I believe in the soul.

 

[Pyre00]

but I think the soul determines your emotional and psychological makeup, like how you view certain things and how you feel about the ethics of things.

Sorry, but those are just chemicals in the brain. Like everything else.

 

[TopaZzz]

Gingers don't have souls!
- Eric Cartman

 

[Naeo]

Well then let's do an experiment and find out. If the soul is made of matter, and it leaves when the person dies, take the mass of a person just before and after they die. Any volunteers?

But how do we account for flatulence?!

Simple, every time you fart it's your soul burping, but your mouth was just closed.

Or you're expelling part of your soul. So don't eat those beans.

 

[Sewblon]

I think that souls are real, because I don't believe that the physical world is real, in its own right. For me to consider something to be "real" it has to interact with an external entity in some meaningful way, so the physical universe is not real unless it some how affects an external entity, and if I can fathom that entity on some level, it is reasonable to assume that I may exist on the same plain. Point out any inconsistencies/loopholes in my philosophy if you want, but it will take me a long time to change it. If we assume that the physical universe is not real, then nothing matters, ergo we can believe and do whatever we want.

 

[Drakenian]

Okay, what the hell? Sorry, the post system is jerking me around right now.

 

[Drakenian]

but I think the soul determines your emotional and psychological makeup, like how you view certain things and how you feel about the ethics of things.

Sorry, but those are just chemicals in the brain. Like everything else.

*Whistles* You sure showed me!

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

No.

 

[Izakflashman]

I can't say for sure, but to say that nothing is there is ignorant. Most call it a soul and thus I will refer to it as such.

Think about who you are. Think about the big things and the smalls things. What's your favorite color? What's your favorite food? What kind of music do you like? et cetera.

So much differences that go beyond skin muscle tissue and bone. We also have emotions. Unlike machines we feel, think, and we even dream. Anyone can base around logic, but those "gut feelings" that some people get is your soul sensing something your mind misses.

Heroes of our age can defined as ones who defy logic. Who consider logic as an option, not a means even if logically an answer is better than the ones they choose.

Some people I know only base their life around logic and science, but neither one can explain everything. Love for example. Why do one like one attribute and hate the other why some others think the opposite?

Bullshit artist say "Oh it is mere chemical reactions in the brain and hormones." I beg to differ because love is something that goes beyond simple chemical reactions and brainwaves.

Do we have souls? I can't say for sure. It is like asking "Is there god?" or "Do ghosts exist?" All I can say it is ignorant to say that nothing is there because there is something there and there are something that go beyond what science can explain.

So many fools in this life always want proof of an existence. They always want someone to prove that a soul exists. You people are fools if EVERYTHING has to have a physical evidence to it.

Love is not a physical thing yet people know that exist, unless you are heartless cold prick.

I second that one. I don't think were gonna find protofluid that the ghostbusters found on the ground anytime soon..
I think We have a soul. And to just say no is a bit of a killjoy. Ha ha. The spaghetti monster would be pissed off at you pessimists. =P

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

I think it's pretty evident that the mind relies on the state of the brain to function. After the brain stops functioning, your mind's gone. Not away - eradicated.

People who claim that "the brain is a radio" or whatever such nonsense, wouldn't be able to account for many brain diseases, damages, and the gaps we all have in our consciousness and reasoning which can be better explained by evolution (our facilities being individually adapted good tricks, through trial and error).

The simplest answer, and the one that best explains the functioning of the mind, is that there is no external soul, and the mind is a product of the brain. All that makes me "me" is the total sum of my mind.