Soul
The 8th century Vespasian Psalter records the Old English word seola meaning self, life, or animate existence. This earliest attestation anchors a concept that has persisted across millennia of human thought. Anthropologists and psychologists observe that most humans distinguish between soul and body in their cultural frameworks. Different religions conceptualize souls in vastly different ways to explain what survives physical death. Buddhism generally teaches the non-existence of a permanent self while contrasting with Christianity's belief in an eternal soul. Hinduism views the Atman as identical to Brahman in some traditions yet distinct in others. Islam uses two terms ruuh and nafs to distinguish between divine spirit and personal disposition. Jainism considers the jiva to be an eternal but changing form until liberation is achieved. Judaism employs multiple terms such as nephesh and ruah to refer to the soul within its theological system. Sikhism regards the soul as part of God while Taoism recognizes dual soul types hun and po.
Socrates envisioned the soul to possess a rational faculty during his defense trial in ancient Athens. He summarized his teachings as nothing other than an exhortation for fellow Athenians to excel in matters of the psyche. Plato believed the soul to be the person's real self, an immaterial and immortal dweller of our lives. He argued that even after death the soul exists and continues to think according to his dialogues. Aristotle sketched out the soul as the first actuality of a naturally organized body allowing natural beings to aspire to full actualization. The ancient Greeks used the term ensouled to represent the concept of being alive indicating that earliest surviving Western philosophical view. Francis M. Cornford quotes Pindar by saying that the soul sleeps while the limbs are active. Erwin Rohde writes that an early pre-Pythagorean belief presented the soul as lifeless when it departed the body. Plato was the first thinker in antiquity to combine various functions of the soul into one coherent conception. He considered this essence to be an incorporeal eternal occupant of our being who decides how humans behave.
Early Buddhists were suspicious about the spiritual value of a soul and wanted to clearly reject dualism. They opposed Jainism's notion of a mortal body and eternal soul that led ascetics to starve themselves to death. The doctrine of anatta evolved from two main philosophico-religious beliefs: eternalism and annihilationism. Eternalists assert the eternity of the soul including ritual purity celestial beings heaven and hell. Annihilationists deny immortality believing that the soul only exists as long as the body does. The Buddha rejects both views identifying their origins to be caused by cravings for immortality or self-discontinuity. In the Milinda's Questions dialogue Greek king Milinda speaks with monk Nāgasena about identity. Nāgasena explains that there is no Nāgasena because his name is merely a label like a chariot's parts. Hindu philosophy especially Vedanta school teaches Atman is the true self beyond identification with phenomena. Jainism considers jiva immortal yet changing form until liberation from cycle of rebirths occurs. Taoism sees hun as ethereal soul linked to light while po is corporeal soul tied to physical senses.
The Bible teaches that upon death souls are immediately welcomed into heaven having received forgiveness through Christ. Paul the Apostle used psychē and pneuma specifically to distinguish between Jewish notions of nephesh and ruah. Some Christians espouse trichotomy characterizing humans as consisting of body soul and spirit while others hold dichotomy. Soul creationism posits God creates each individual soul directly at conception or later time. Traducianism suggests the soul comes from parents by natural generation whereas pre-existence theory claims it exists before conception. Al-Baghdadi rejected that God has ruuh in order to have life as Christian beliefs propose all spirits are created. The Quran uses nafs for person or self applying to both humans and djinn but not angels. Ibn Sina claimed the rational soul was uncreated and immortal while Ibn Rushd argued entire soul ceases to exist. Al-Ghazali defines human as spiritual substance neither confined nor joined nor separated from the body possessing knowledge and perception. He identifies immaterial self with heart containing animalistic devilish and angelic parts influencing moral choices.
Avicenna wrote his famous Floating man thought experiment while imprisoned demonstrating human self-awareness without sensory contact. He concluded idea of self is not logically dependent on any physical thing making soul a primary given substance. Thomas Aquinas understood soul as first actuality of living body distinguishing three orders of life: plants animals and humans. His epistemological theory required soul definitely not corporeal since knower becomes what he knows according to Summa Theologica. Aquinas affirmed divine effusion doctrine particular judgement after separation from dead body and final resurrection of flesh. Augustine of Hippo states in fourth book of De Trinitate that soul is all in whole body and all in any part. Avicenna generally supported Aristotle's idea of soul originating from heart whereas Ibn al-Nafis rejected this entirely. Ibn al-Nafis argued soul related to entirety not one or few organs defining it as what human indicates by saying I. Medieval philosophers expanded upon classical foundations integrating Aristotelian logic into theological frameworks across centuries.
Immanuel Kant defined the soul as the I in most technical sense holding we can prove properties cannot be recognized from materiality. He critiqued metaphysics of soul calling investigation rational psychology seeking to establish claims about nature by analyzing proposition I think. Many predecessors believed reflecting on I could demonstrate self necessarily substance indivisible self-identical separate from external world. Kant asserts such conclusions stem from error conflating conceptual thought with genuine cognition requiring both intuition and concepts. Otto Rank explains importance of immortality in psychology of primitive classical and modern interest in life and death. Ernest Becker describes soul in terms of Søren Kierkegaard use of self including symbolic self and physical body. Cognitive scientist Jesse Bering and psychologist Nicholas Humphrey claim humans born as soul-body dualists inclined to believe existence. American philosopher Steward Goetz claimed ordinary human beings are soul-body substance dualists at all times and places. Parapsychologist Duncan MacDougall attempted scientific experiment determining if soul had weight using patients from Haverhill Massachusetts.
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Common questions
What does the 8th century Vespasian Psalter say about the word soul?
The 8th century Vespasian Psalter records the Old English word seola meaning self, life, or animate existence. This earliest attestation anchors a concept that has persisted across millennia of human thought.
How do Buddhism and Christianity differ regarding the soul?
Buddhism generally teaches the non-existence of a permanent self while contrasting with Christianity's belief in an eternal soul. The doctrine of anatta evolved from two main philosophico-religious beliefs: eternalism and annihilationism to reject dualism.
When did Plato first combine various functions of the soul into one coherent conception?
Plato was the first thinker in antiquity to combine various functions of the soul into one coherent conception during his dialogues. He considered this essence to be an incorporeal eternal occupant of our being who decides how humans behave.
Who wrote the Floating man thought experiment about the soul?
Avicenna wrote his famous Floating man thought experiment while imprisoned demonstrating human self-awareness without sensory contact. He concluded idea of self is not logically dependent on any physical thing making soul a primary given substance.
What did Parapsychologist Duncan MacDougall attempt to determine about the soul?
Parapsychologist Duncan MacDougall attempted scientific experiment determining if soul had weight using patients from Haverhill Massachusetts. This experiment sought to measure the physical properties of the immaterial essence of a living being.