Do Souls exist?

[Hitoshura]

It should be known by now that I'm a religious person. And since I'm religious, it should be obvious that I believe in souls. But what do you think? Theres really no proof if it exists or not because research isn't going to bring enough evidence. But if souls didn't exist, wouldn't that mean we'd all be emotionless vessels?

I'll let discussion begin....

[Passion]

I think souls exist in the sense that it is what makes up someones personality and emotion. However I don't believe in the souls that 'go to heaven' sort of sense. I know what I mean.

[Halfmetal]

Because i'm religious, I believe in souls. I can't tell you how to prove souls existence, but i can tell you how to possbily disprove it. If we can study the brain and identify if any sort of permanant change happens, like some sort of trace left behind then that should tell us something.

[Yurian]

Here's dictionary.com's definitions:

The animating and vital principle in humans, credited with the faculties of thought, action, and emotion and often conceived as an immaterial entity.
The spiritual nature of humans, regarded as immortal, separable from the body at death, and susceptible to happiness or misery in a future state.
The disembodied spirit of a dead human.Emotions are induced by the brain, not a soul, and carried out by actions, caused by body (muscle, tendon, etc.) movement. Personality is caused by our genes and by our experiences. Therefore, I don't agree with the first definition.

Given those facts, what do souls do? What is a spirit/spiritual nature? It comes back to religion and the unprovable again.

[Ultima Star]

Well..since I'm a catholic person I say that souls do exist if they didnt then how would we be alive in the first place? it's not like that our body is the only one who is alive but you have a spirit and all, it's totally impossible to prove it's a mistery indeed but like I said will we be alive if we didnt have a soul?
when we die is our body who dies not our souls..at least that's what I believe

[Naunen]

I believe souls are the essence we are currently creating until we die. Made by emotions, affinities.... Like, a spirit can be sensed in a specific place because that favourite place of theirs housed many feelings the person experienced. Or if they died with a strong feeling, that strong feeling will linger in times to come. In conclusion, they exist. Just my opinion, anyway.

[Halfmetal]

I have a feeling that souls are at first, empty vessels, that store up what is you as you get older and then when you die, you are now completely this soul after discarding your body which was your first physical vessel.

[Rophe]

I believe that our bodies, like computers, store memories but we, unlike computers are effected by hormones and sensual experiences (sight/smell/hearing etc.). Basically, I feel that we are like amazingly advanced supercomputers but with hormones. Not souls.

Are you saying that only sentient beings have souls, not plants or micro-organisms and such? By my count they wouldn't because they don't have memories. That is, if I believed in souls.

[Halfmetal]

Hmmmm, I don't know about animals and such, but you aren't saying all don't have memories, are you? You can teach a dog new trick. They certainly seem capable of remembering things.

Plants and microorganisms? Ah well, they don't really have cognitive processes so you'de be right and there. But then, one could argue that neither do things like dogs. They just live by emotion and instinct. But then many would also argue that we do as well.

It's quite a tricky subject.

[Devious]

I don't believe in souls. Our emotions are simply tools for self-preservation. ALL emotions have a use as basic survival instincts.

Fear - To alert us to possible dangers
Joy - To teach us what is GOOD and what we should do (like eat food rather than... not)
Pain - To tell us what sucks and should be avoided (like not walking on fire -_-)
Sadness - The emotional equivilent of pain
Anger - To give us an extra boost of power when something like a tiger pisses us off and we wanna kill it

You get my point.

[Halfmetal]

I don't believe in souls. Our emotions are simply tools for self-preservation. ALL emotions have a use as basic survival instincts.

Fear - To alert us to possible dangers
Joy - To teach us what is GOOD and what we should do (like eat food rather than... not)
Pain - To tell us what sucks and should be avoided (like not walking on fire -_-)
Sadness - The emotional equivilent of pain
Anger - To give us an extra boost of power when something like a tiger pisses us off and we wanna kill it

You get my point.

Yes, but these can be manipulated quite easily. The Little Albert study has shown that we can develop fears of harmless objects. There's one guy who had a phobia of baked beans.

Joy can also depend on person to person. Some may, for example, take joy in reading whilst other will not. Pain, well, that's not really an emotion now. Sadness and anger can also depend on the person. Now why would these differ if they're for survival. Wouldn't we all be the same?

I'm currently studying Evolutionary Psychology. I don't know everything yet, but when I do, I hope to talk about a lot more.

[Rophe]

These emotions are brought on by hormones and chemicals in our body, that has been proven by good ol' science, right? In my opinion, the adverse effects, like phobias and such, are merely like side effects. With drugs (the good, medical kind) you have a primary use and often side-effects, it also depends on the user as to how they work, and so, in my opinion, these odd effects - phobias, sexuality, disabilities and such. These things are generally caused by genetic or environmental effects but the hormones are directly responsible for causing them.

[Devious]

Yes, but these can be manipulated quite easily. The Little Albert study has shown that we can develop fears of harmless objects. There's one guy who had a phobia of baked beans.

Joy can also depend on person to person. Some may, for example, take joy in reading whilst other will not. Pain, well, that's not really an emotion now. Sadness and anger can also depend on the person. Now why would these differ if they're for survival. Wouldn't we all be the same?

I'm currently studying Evolutionary Psychology. I don't know everything yet, but when I do, I hope to talk about a lot more.
Eh, hiccups in evolution. You can't expect everyone to be perfect.

[Yurian]

Okay. Imagine a situation.

For whatever reason, you're about to have your arm sliced off. Imagine the immense desperation you feel - "How can I stop it? Please don't chop it off!!!" Then the sword comes down. For a moment, you feel nothing because of the abrupt disruption from the nerve endings. It seems as if time slows down, and suddenly you're screaming, writhing on the ground as blood spurts out from both your severed limb and the useless vestige of a shoulder left on your torso.

Obviously, the arm has a purpose. It's part of the body. We are constantly sensing it because we constantly use it. It's of need to us, even if we take it for granted. In contrast, we don't have a need for a "soul". Indeed, there has yet to be a concrete definition excluding further vague terms (spirits, vessel etc.). From this premise, it is proven that there is no such thing asides from what is tangible and real: emotions are just the realization in our actions from hormones/chemicals in our brain; perceptions and opinions are just thoughts - electrical nerve signals - developed from external stimuli.

Ta-dah!

[Pixel]

It should be known by now that I'm a religious person. And since I'm religious, it should be obvious that I believe in souls. But what do you think? Theres really no proof if it exists or not because research isn't going to bring enough evidence. But if souls didn't exist, wouldn't that mean we'd all be emotionless vessels?

I'll let discussion begin....

I agree with Kira, although, it does not really matter does it? We still exist, and have emotions, so do we really even need a soul?

[Slim__Cognito]

souls are probably more the conscious of individuals, also and probably more, the subconcious as this is what i believe makes a person who he/she is . souls obviously arent going to be floating balls of light as movies and what not portray but the connection between this world and the spiritual world..choices we make here , earth-the gateway into two spiritual realms, is what shapes the soul into what it is. only merging our concious with our 'soul' at death .

thats all i got

[Halfmetal]

Souls are basically what we become when we die. We get transfered into a soul which is eternal.

[Halfmetal]

These emotions are brought on by hormones and chemicals in our body, that has been proven by good ol' science, right? In my opinion, the adverse effects, like phobias and such, are merely like side effects. With drugs (the good, medical kind) you have a primary use and often side-effects, it also depends on the user as to how they work, and so, in my opinion, these odd effects - phobias, sexuality, disabilities and such. These things are generally caused by genetic or environmental effects but the hormones are directly responsible for causing them.

Aaah, but many psychologists would argue that it's actually the other way round and that it's our psyche that affects the physical. Think about it. In order to have a phobia, the fear is indeed caused by impulses in the brain that produce a fear emotion, but this impulse is triggered by the psychological interpretation that such a thing should be feared.

[Hitoshura]

Yea, I also forgot to mention that I believe in the spirit got heaven and hell thing as well.

[Halfmetal]

Another point I want to make is that, many agree that we have a subconcious that can also affect our feelings and emotions. Where does that come from?

[Hitoshura]

bi-polarness?

Could you explain better?

[Halfmetal]

Waaa?

Which bit don't you understand?

[Hitoshura]

I think I understand what you mean ..... sometimes I'll feel fine then the next I'm in a bad mood. Its hard to explain .....

[Thefutureisnow]

Ive always taken the stand that religious belief has always been used as an excuse to justify our own actions. Take a common example, the north of ireland has been a hotpoint in terms of the shism in christianity, cathoics vs protestants, when really even though this conflict is between GB and ireland since the plantations. Religious differences have been brought to the fore even though there are Protestants on the republican side and catholics on the unionist side. In answer to your question of whether souls exist we must ask ourselves where does the idea of souls origionate?
Religion, I don't claim to be religious, even though the idea of souls is widely believed throughout the religions wether reincarnation ect.
But the answer is that likely humans would like to believe what religion tells us but to take it with a pinch of salt, use your own dissgression.