The Idea of a Soul

The idea of a soul and whether we continue on in an afterlife is debated in the book, A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality.  I agree with Sam Williams argument that we do go to an afterlife because we all posses souls.  Gretchen argues that our soul are not connected to our physical body and that the only thing that will happen after death is her body rotting away in a coffin.  Her soul is not apart of her she says so she will not continue on in an afterlife.  I think that if someone does believe that we all have souls then they should also believe that they are connected to us.  If we have souls that just roam around and are not personally connected to us and go from someone else's body to another, what makes it our soul.  We would no longer have a soul if it was not connected to us.  So if someone says we have souls then I would think that you then have to think they are connected with us.  Gretchen made good points in some of her arguments but in other points I just felt that they were far fetched and she was just saying things to try and poke holes in Sam's argument.  No, there is no proof that our souls are connected to our bodies and are identical to us but to think that we have souls that just roam around aimlessly and that our physical body is to be occupied by other souls on a day to day basis seems silly to me. 

Comments

  1. Hanna GutalaFebruary 3, 2019 at 6:15 PM

    I agree with your opinion on how our souls are connected to us. Yes, there is no proof, but I believe that each person's soul is one of a kind. As we discussed about in class no two people are completely identical to one another. We used the example of identical twins. Yes they are identical, however, they are two different people with two different thoughts and two different emotions. Therefore their souls are theirs and theirs only. When the topic of how our physical bodies are being occupied by other souls day to day I thought it was an interesting concept to think about although it didn't seem "correct" to me either. I don't think that I believe Gretchen's claim as well because when reading her beliefs on bodies and souls it didn't make sense to me.

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  2. Deborah Adekunle-OdeleyeFebruary 4, 2019 at 7:02 PM

    The existence of souls would always be a highly debatable topic because it has a lot of emotional weight tied to it. I agree with both of you (in the belief of souls) even after Gretchen convincing argument. She states, We can not observe souls so we can not verify their existence or identity Which I concede the fact that she is right but I still in believe in the idiom “ignorance is bliss” . I will reiterate what my catechism teacher told me “ The bible may be full of contradictions which you may never fix, but your faith should be bolstered by this simple truth Christ loves you. Also,Sam is a clergy whose job is to sell hope and spirituality ;which serve a different function that a philosophy professor.

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  3. Ethan HerringMarch 14, 2019 at 10:09 PM

    Of the original poster, I would like to ask why it is that it is silly "to think that we have souls that just roam around aimlessly and that our physical body is to be occupied by other souls on a day to day basis" but not silly to think that we have souls that stay put in our bodies? Because you are more used to the latter idea? Or because part of the essence of a soul is that it is the essence of a person?--because if so, what about reincarnation? Each worldly manifestation of a soul is different than the last, so how can the conscious experiencer be the same?

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