The Soul - is there proof?

[ElxDalto]

Gosh, I've got into some heated arguments over this subject. I believe that our conscience represents the soul, but others say otherwise. I think its all a cop out to keep assuming that there isn't life after death. I say thats ludicrous.

 

[Albion]

I believe in the soul, but it's definitely something other than the conscience.

 

[Ana the Ist]

I believe in the soul, but it's definitely something other than the conscience.

Why do you think so? In what ways do you think it differs?

 

[Ana the Ist]

Gosh, I've got into some heated arguments over this subject. I believe that our conscience represents the soul, but others say otherwise. I think its all a cop out to keep assuming that there isn't life after death. I say thats ludicrous.

You believe that a persons conscience is the soul? Or just that it represents the soul in some way? I'm just asking you to clarify because I think it will help the thread if everyone understands what you mean...

As for myself, I have no belief that a soul exists. That's because of the total lack of evidence...not some "cop out"...as you liked to word it.

Personally, I believe that the idea of a soul is a rather primitive way of trying to understand what makes each person unique/different from everyone else. This concept got tied into the notion of an afterlife for obvious reasons...if people already believed in a soul, telling them that their soul will live on in another place is a direct appeal to their wants and desires. The fear of mortality/death is a very common aspect of humanity and most people don't want to believe that after this life is over, a person is gone from existence forever.

It's perhaps the ugliest truth...so much so that most people are in denial of it.

 

[Goonie]

In answer to the OP.

No.

Well that was easy.

 

[Albion]

Why do you think so? In what ways do you think it differs?

The conscience is a function of brain activity. The soul, as most people understand the word, is a shadow self, an incorporeal self, that we believe survives physical death.

 

[Chesterton]

There's no proof of anything in life, but there are cases to be made.

 

[Ana the Ist]

The conscience is a function of brain activity. The soul, as most people understand the word, is a shadow self, an incorporeal self, that we believe survives physical death.

Could you explain anything else about the "soul"? I'll understand if you can't, it's just that your description doesn't explain much...

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

I believe in Reason and Logic.

Therefore I have to believe in the 'soul'. For if all our thoughts and reasoning were merely the product of brain physiology, than there is no reason to trust that one thing is more reasonable than any other. We would consider it so, merely because my brain chemistry happened at that moment in time to be a specific way. If it were different, than something entirely different may have been reasonable. To believe I can make deductions and logical conclusions, that are truly thus, is to believe that something more than mere physiology is at play.

Does this mean the soul is this something? Maybe, it certainly is the best candidate for it. It doesn't mean the soul is consciousness however, or not tied to the body, but these are other matters entirely.

Human Reason simply cannot come from unreason, solely from naturalistic processes, without losing all its credentials to be called Reason. Because I believe that I can make logical conclusions, that B follows from A necessarily and not because my brain happened to be wired in a certain way, I am forced to conclude the existence of a supernatural component to the Self. I may be wrong, but if I am then it wouldn't matter, as no argument anyone ever made would mean anything anyway. For human action and free will would anyway be meaningless, just a relentless march of chemical processes outside our control, as our 'decisions' would merely follow the way the brain physiology happened to line up.

 

[CrystalDragon]

The conscience is a function of brain activity. The soul, as most people understand the word, is a shadow self, an incorporeal self, that we believe survives physical death.

I think they actually mean "consciousness", not "conscience".

 

[ElxDalto]

That's because of the total lack of evidence...not some "cop out"...as you liked to word it.

Since you're an atheist, you don't grasp the concept of anything besides the natural world. God is supernatural, He created the laws that govern this life. Just because the evidence shows there isn't a soul, doesn't mean squat. There's many things we don't know even though we have evidence to show we know. This is arrogance to think we know 100% of something when all we have is evidence of the known, there is still the unknown.

 

[durangodawood]

Since you're an atheist, you don't grasp the concept of anything besides the natural world......

You dont need to believe in an idea to understand it.

 

[ElxDalto]

You dont need to believe in an idea to understand it.

Agreed, but meant not just understanding, more on the concern of breaking through on the reality of our society that says "we know enough to make it true".

 

[durangodawood]

Agreed, but meant not just understanding, more on the concern of breaking through on the reality of our society that says "we know enough to make it true".

Not sure I understand. In fact, sure i dont.

 

[Albion]

Could you explain anything else about the "soul"? I'll understand if you can't, it's just that your description doesn't explain much...

Ana, I am not sure I can add much. The soul is usually thought of as a parallel self, but spirit. Conscience is something generated by our thought processes, so that's part of our physical nature.

 

[Albion]

I think they actually mean "consciousness", not "conscience".

Oh. If so, that would make describing the difference much harder, wouldn't it?

 

[TillICollapse]

Since you're an atheist, you don't grasp the concept of anything besides the natural world. God is supernatural, He created the laws that govern this life. Just because the evidence shows there isn't a soul, doesn't mean squat. There's many things we don't know even though we have evidence to show we know. This is arrogance to think we know 100% of something when all we have is evidence of the known, there is still the unknown.

Just wanted to point out, that being an atheist, doesn't necessitate that a person doesn't believe in a soul, supernatural things, etc.

 

[bhsmte]

Gosh, I've got into some heated arguments over this subject. I believe that our conscience represents the soul, but others say otherwise. I think its all a cop out to keep assuming that there isn't life after death. I say thats ludicrous.

Ok, not that we have established that, do you have any credible evidence?

 

[bhsmte]

Since you're an atheist, you don't grasp the concept of anything besides the natural world. God is supernatural, He created the laws that govern this life. Just because the evidence shows there isn't a soul, doesn't mean squat. There's many things we don't know even though we have evidence to show we know. This is arrogance to think we know 100% of something when all we have is evidence of the known, there is still the unknown.

Who here is claiming we know 100% of something?

 

[Armoured]

Gosh, I've got into some heated arguments over this subject. I believe that our conscience represents the soul, but others say otherwise. I think its all a cop out to keep assuming that there isn't life after death. I say thats ludicrous.

You're free to think and believe what you like. There's no proof of souls, though.