Do other animals have souls

Society Religion & Philosophy
1

do they?

or is that what differentiates us from the rest? because other than that, we are ultimately the same :@:

2

Re: Do other animals have souls

i don't think they do...........but thats just what i think.......it has no basis whatsoever.

3

Re: Do other animals have souls

i would like to believe they do

4

Re: Do other animals have souls

According to Judaism and Christianity, there is a difference between a soul a spirit. As far as I know, Islam does not make a difference.

According to Judaism and Christianity an animal has a body and soul, a human has a body, soul and spirit.

5

Re: Do other animals have souls

^^^ and whats the diff between soul and spirit?

6

Re: Do other animals have souls

does all life have a soul? this should have been my question actually.

and yes, what is the difference between soul and spirit?

7

Re: Do other animals have souls

Ofcourse they do. The relevant question is why would anyone not believe they have souls?

8

Re: Do other animals have souls

Peace Med911

Are you surprised we are in agreement for once? Even plants have souls ... and single-celled organisms ... The Christians determined women have souls only 200 years ago ...

9

Re: Do other animals have souls

I Believe they do ....

10

Re: Do other animals have souls

:k: i think so too.

11

Re: Do other animals have souls

What is soul? Does it has physical proprieties? If not, how do you define it?

Me thinks there is no soul. We just exist as a form of energy and when die we just go from one form to another. Why am I wrong?

12

Re: Do other animals have souls

We always agree on the basics, and on principle.. Just not in the details.. :)

13

Re: Do other animals have souls

Just for fun, I was hoping someone would challenge me on this point… There is a great point that Peter Singer raises when confronted with the logic that somehow our intellectual (and perhaps spiritual) capacity, gives us superiority over and dominance over other creatures. To this he replies, so what of severely mentally retarded humans? Should we then also treat them as we do animals (in the context of his debate, he meant eat them), if they are intellectually equivalent to an animal?

14

Re: Do other animals have souls

I think for this energy you speak of, to be considered a soul, should be conscious of itself.

Energy without a conscience is no different from propane.

There is no need to think we are made of energy however, we in fact are a form of energy in a very real sense. Energy for worms.

Its remarkable when you think about it. The elements that our bodies are composed of, came from the same source, and ultimately it will all return to that source.
The carbons that formed in the heart of a star, for one brief moment in eternity, coalesced to form a thinking, feeling human being, with an entire lifetime of achievements. And the air you breath, who knows, perhaps it was a carbon from the last breath drawn by Ceasar himself.

15

Re: Do other animals have souls

OMG, that is the exact thing that intrigues me beyond expression. We were all literally stars at some point in history : D (btw this is also the idea in Hindusim, I think--the soul ultimately joins with the rest of the universe and that is what breaks the continuous cycle of rebirth--very debatable, but still intriguing how they believe something similar) I forget the proper terms for the concept:S

also, a mentally retarded human is still a human, it's just variation in a species from a scientific perspective. Our medicinal advances attempt to reverse such changes. Eating other humans would just be cannibalism, I don't get that guy's point...

16

Re: Do other animals have souls

"Do other animals have souls"

With the word "other" are you implying that human are animal too?

or

was it a mistake?

17

Re: Do other animals have souls

It really is astounding. We really ARE the Universe.

What Singer meant was that if your justification for eating meat is simply that we are intellectually superior to animals, then by that logic, why should we not be allowed to eat humans who are intellectually equivalent to some animals?

If your only reason then is to say that we are human and thus superior, you would have to explain in what way we are superior, since intellectual ability is no longer a valid criteria. If one is unable to give a valid reason for why we should consider ourselves superior, one cannot justify subjugating animals other then to say we do so because we can, which ofcourse is neither reasonable or rational.

Singer calls this Species-ism, akin to racism, in which we subjugate an entire species as opposed to a race, based on nothing more then our own prejudices.

18

Re: Do other animals have souls

Are we not animals? Dont we often swap places? Humans acting like animals and animals like humans?

19

Re: Do other animals have souls

We can measure energy ... I don't think we have been able to measure the soul. Yet we know there is a difference between a dead body on life support and a person sleeping.

I believe there is a different dimension to our existence that is beyond the physical world. We are in our bodies, but you won't find us if you open the body up and look. We are our bodies but our bodies are different to us ... If we are human as being the animal that walks then does it make a leg amputee a non-human? If we are human because we speak then does a mute not qualify? If we lose a limb do we lose our humanity? Can a human therefore take the shape of a dog?

If we can't even define what being a human is then how can we possibly start to think of a soul? Yet we know we have one ... Or we think we know it. But then does a mentally handicapped person who cannot think about such things qualify as human let alone as having a soul?

20

Re: Do other animals have souls

Acting like animals, swap places, I thought you might come up with a better logic to prove your point.

I was given the status of "Asharaf-ul-Makhlooqat" by my creator, I would much rather have that instead of considering myself an animal for I have an ability to act like one.