Definition Essay – Defining the Soul of Man

Definition Essay – Defining the Soul of Man

"Soul" has, historically, always been tied up with morality and religious dogma, and I believe modern neuropsychology and psychobiology has effectively refuted any scientific basis for a "Soul." To state as fact, "The soul exists," one must first socratically define Soul. More on this later:

Soul, or Consciousness, is, without a doubt, tied up within the billions of curious things called synapses and cells, deep inside the brain. There are cases of people without consciousness, without the all important "I." Usually this happens through the onset of a coma, or sometimes the hippocampus is damaged. (which is where short-term memory, a necessary component of consciousness, is located.) These people do not function properly, and are unaware of themselves. (this is very difficult for us to comprehend, as we are self-aware, and so cannot place ourselves in an antithetical position.)

Upon death, all brain waves, all mental capacities, and all memories are forever lost. These things are all, again without a scientific doubt, stored in the brain-cells, where they are continually accessed when the brain is alive. But with the onset of death, (which is always and without fail the death of the brain,) these things become locked away in the tiny vaults of a billion cells, never to be accessed again.

But this does not irrefutably destroy the belief in Soul. It is much more complex, which is unnerving because a thorough explanation demands numerous paragraphs.

There are two major religious beliefs on the soul, and though they may seem diametrically opposed, we must remember that our ideas on the soul exist only because of the conditioned acceptance of these religiou...

... middle of paper ...

...ything that exists is energy, (as is the case), then we undeniably have a "soul."

But not in the conscious, creative, spiritual sense, only in a semantic sense.

Since consciousness is inextricably linked with soul, and we are only conscious while in our bodies, the "immortal soul" theory breaks down. How do we know it is immortal? Support that. Give empirical evidence for it.

You can't, so why believe in something that has no support, aside from an old dogma that has been contradicted a thousand times by science and empirical evidence?

But, as I said, if "Soul" means nothing more than "Energy," than we have a soul. But the moment "Soul" means anything else, science refutes it.

Works Cited

Masson, Jeffrey. "When Animals Weep." New York, Delacorte Press, 1995

De Wall, Franz. "Chimpanzee Politics." John Hopkins University Press, 1989.