Updated Summary of Entries on the Soul

[lhynard]

Last time around, I listed common statements made about the "soul" and my responses to them. This time around, I think I shall be brief and just make short statements of my current thoughts on the "soul", organized and cross-linked for your reading pleasure.

• Anything with higher brain function has a "soul".[0] This higher brain function includes self-awareness.[1]
  • What have souls?
    • Human clones would have souls.[2]
    • Many animals have souls; plants and insects and bacteria, etc. do not.[3]
    • A concrete object cannot have a soul.[4] Abstract things can only make sense if an observer with a soul is present.[5]
  • When does a soul begin and end?
    • A soul begins whenever higher brain function begins. Soul-life does not begin at conception, but does begin very early in the womb.[6, 7]
    • Death occurs at loss of higher brain function. A body becomes soul-less at death.[6, 7]
• A soul cannot function without a body.[8] (It is like software, whereas the body is like hardware. Software can "exist" in the mind of a programmer or stored in written form on paper, but without hardware, software cannot function.)
  • If someone were cryogenically frozen[9], the soul would not function until thawed. This would be like software in a frozen or turned-off computer. From the point of view of the soul itself, however, no time would have passed.
• Any soul is dynamic.
  • From its beginning, any soul is shaped and changed by its body, its inputs, and its choices.[4]
  • A soul from its beginning is not masculine or feminine. Such qualities are given the soul by its body, its inputs, and its choices.[4]
  • The soul is the essence of a person, whence a person gains his or her uniqueness.[4]
• If a spirit is defined as anything non-physical, then a soul can be considered a spiritual thing. That is, no creature would have both soul and spirit as separate entities.[10]

(Click here for a full list of my entries on the soul.)Special comment to essius:
A while back, in one of your entries, we were discussing the out-of-body possibility of souls. You made some good arguments, but I cannot find the entry. Do you, by chance, know to which entry I refer? If so, could you give me a link. I'd like to continue that discussion. Thanks.