Do animals have souls?

[Mizmoon]

[Dogmudgeon]

1. First Quiz In Metaphysics:

How many fingers am I holding up?

(No, I'm not making a bad joke about the middle finger.)

--p!

[Dhalgren]

2. Well, most Christians say we do...

[Demeter]

3. Occam's Razor

No proof of a soul, no purpose of a soul, soul is the construct of manipulators (like Biblical Karl Roves). Man made God in his own image.

[BlueJazz]

4. I used to have a Dog named "James Brown"....He had..

..a lot of soul...uhhhggg!!..I feel good...

[Heidi]

5. Yes.

All _sentient beings_ have souls.

[Deep13]

11. Are animals sentient, and if so which ones?

[Heidi]

12. All sentient beings.

Anything that you, with pure intent, believe to be able to experience suffering and sensation is a sentient being.

[Deep13]

15. "Pure intent" to do what?

Anyway, whether or not a critter is self aware has nothing to do with my subjective belief. I also find it odd that you choose the define sentience (self awareness) in terms of suffering. Frankly, this sounds like a case of starting from the result you want and making the definition fit it.

[Heidi]

19. My apologies.

In my previous post, I should have said "I" instead of "you." I believe the ability to experience suffering and sensation are part of self-awareness. But I don't expect anyone else to believe that. Sorry I wasn't clear about that.

[MindPilot]

6. Nope -- no such thing as a soul.

Unless of course you meant "sole", in which case humans have two. I'm not sure about animals, but sometimes you can eat sole.

[Shell Beau]

7. I think we all have souls.

O8) Just my opinion though!

[RedCloud]

8. When you eat these animals, do you eat their souls too?

[Shell Beau]

9. No the souls , IMO, leave the body.

Notice I said IMO. :-)

[4_Legs_Good]

10. Remember to eat their heart to gain their courage

Their rich, tasty courage...

:drool:



david

[kick-ass-bob]

14. Would you eat the soul of a human if you ate a human?

[Kathleen04]

13. I believe that humans

have souls..animals have instinct and feeling, but I don't think they have a "soul" in the same manner that a human has a soul. If you wanted to catagorize what animals have as a "soul", I think it would at least be a less complex one.

[UncleSepp]

16. Define soul.

How can anyone answer the question, does an animal have x, when we don't have a definition on what x is? Anyhow, it's a fun discussion :-)

[LSdemocrat]

17. I haven't the slightest idea

[AlienGirl]

18. If humans do, I think animals do too

I think all conscious beings have something nonphysical that continues to exist after the death of the body--animals, humans, and if there were ever conscious machines, they would have it too. I'm not sure it is "energy" the way people often think of it; maybe it's more like information.

This is just my opinion, based on anecdotes and conjecture, so feel free to discount it.

Tucker

[Swamp Rat]

20. I knew a dog who would howl on pitch when I played an E chord

It didn't matter if it was major or minor. :D

[In_The_Wind]

21. I believe that animals do have souls.

O8)