23
   

Can An Atheist Have A Soul?

Forums: Atheism, Religion, Philosophy, Idle Chat
Email this Topic • Print this Page
 
 
cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Wed 16 Nov, 2011 02:10 am
@tristan22,
Are you implying that all worldly sins are forgiven in heaven? Arrow Drunk
0 Replies
 
cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Wed 16 Nov, 2011 02:11 am
@Procrustes,
It does't matter; all electrical impulses cease upon biological death.
Procrustes
 
  1  
Reply Wed 16 Nov, 2011 02:14 am
@cicerone imposter,
True, but I heard somewhere that energy never really gets destroyed, it merely transforms.
cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Wed 16 Nov, 2011 02:19 am
@Procrustes,
Then your understanding of how and why the brain works doesn't exist.
Procrustes
 
  1  
Reply Wed 16 Nov, 2011 03:02 am
@cicerone imposter,
True, that knowledge is mysterious. Merely connecting dots...
cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Wed 16 Nov, 2011 08:23 am
@Procrustes,
It's not mysterious in any way if you bother to understand human biology. The chemistry in our brain is never 100% reliable, and that's the reason humans can suffer from many forms of mental deficiencies including developmental disabilities, depression, bipoler, schitzophrenia, and other ailments.
Procrustes
 
  1  
Reply Thu 17 Nov, 2011 02:27 am
@cicerone imposter,
There's still much more to it than chemicals in the brain. That's why I think it's still mysterious. The whole body isn't looked holistically enough even with certain advancements in specified fields looking at different parts of the body. For instance, scientists did brain scans to identify or 'quantify' a 'self' but couldn't determine anything with those scans. As much as I would love to know what a 'self' looks like on a scan, I think science still has some hurdles before they can demystify those questions long asked about the body.
north
 
  1  
Reply Fri 18 Nov, 2011 09:06 pm
@tristan22,
tristan22 wrote:

If the ego inhabits the physical body then you may as well call it a soul surely. I don't know of course, but I think maybe the conscious, subconscious and unconscious are the same as God, the heavens and the earth God being spirit, the heavens being electro magnetic energy (thought waves) and the earth being physical matter. Physical matter stores information. Electro magnetic waveforms transport information through the central nervous system and through space from one creature to another but God or our self awareness is something utterly different. Magnetic energy is created by interaction and so it relies on matter to exist. The particles in matter adhere via magnetism and so relies on energy to exist. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think so. Our awareness is not a part of either of these and god couldn't have created the heavens and the earth unless he was separate from them both.



tristan22

I think your a little beyond most people
0 Replies
 
monsterous hamster
 
  1  
Reply Mon 28 Nov, 2011 07:25 pm
@ebrown p,
@ebrown p

Exactly. Quantum Physics has been proven time and time again, generaly an atheist will not believe in somthing that has no prove or will never be proved.

A true atheist would not want a soul because thry know that they dont need one, that they just exsist and and there awareness is still just a bunch of chemical reactions even if they cant feel it.

A soul is not a thing tat has prove in any way, a soul was really just made up by somebody and then somebody else liked thale soumd of it and it spread like that. Of course that depends on what you define a soul is.

But the only definition of 'soul' you gave was tat we are an awareness. If this awareness is an awareness then why call it a soul at all?

0 Replies
 
cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Mon 28 Nov, 2011 08:21 pm
@Procrustes,
There is no such thing as a "self." We're all constrained by our environment, biology, and genes.
Procrustes
 
  1  
Reply Tue 29 Nov, 2011 02:12 am
@cicerone imposter,
I understand that there is no 'self', merely an illusion. And the biology you speak of is like the mechanics behind the illusion. But how do we quantify something as mysterious as the concept of a soul?
Fil Albuquerque
 
  1  
Reply Tue 29 Nov, 2011 07:43 am
@Procrustes,
My metaphor for a "Soul" is the signature of behaviour, what we call personality or personality's if you want...
0 Replies
 
cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Tue 29 Nov, 2011 10:29 am
@Procrustes,
Have you not been reading this thread about the soul? Many arrive at conclusions that its separate from the biology of the individual, but they are unable to prove it - like their god(s).
Procrustes
 
  1  
Reply Tue 29 Nov, 2011 10:05 pm
@cicerone imposter,
Well how can one tell if an Atheist has a soul if one cannot quantify or at least agree on a concept of a soul? It would seem systematic to me to begin at that conundrum before one were to start to asking which 'sorts of people' had one or not.
cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Tue 29 Nov, 2011 11:03 pm
@Procrustes,
Because "soul" is based on religious belief, the foundation doesn't stand up to any scrutiny.

Whatever soul might be to the believer, it dies right along with his biology.
Procrustes
 
  1  
Reply Tue 29 Nov, 2011 11:21 pm
@cicerone imposter,
I think 'soul' is a word that has simillar semantic trouble like the word 'god'. But I think it can be salvaged by viewing it as some sort of 'embodiment'. The trouble is, is to differentiate it with the other phenomenal things that we strive to 'pin down' in our biology. How one goes about demystifying that is as hard as figuring out the problem of consciousness. (Perhaps even harder)
cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Wed 30 Nov, 2011 11:13 am
@Procrustes,
It seems to me that you're describing "emotion" more than anything; it's difficult to tie down, because each individual's emotional state is difficult to describe.
Procrustes
 
  1  
Reply Fri 2 Dec, 2011 04:17 am
@cicerone imposter,
IMO, 'emotion' would be an aspect of a 'soul'. If I had to 'pin it down' I'd like to hope it was a 'real world substance' which is the opposite to the dualistic approach Descartes pushed. So in that sense, I can concieve of a 'life force' which is made of an 'energy' that is part our 'natural universe'. But again, how do we quantify such a 'thing'.
Fil Albuquerque
 
  1  
Reply Fri 2 Dec, 2011 05:59 pm
@Procrustes,
Spirit it seems to me comes from the Latin spirare which means to breath and that ultimately refers to anima or motion...and yes, in that subtle sober and strict sense our universe displays motion, energy, space, and time...thus transformation is the "soul" of Cosmos in all things, or simply put the very reason why there are "things" and "entity´s" in the first place...
Beyond the mystery of the noumena, the very matrix, for us we have the tangible phenomena of a "living" "breathing" Universe !
north
 
  1  
Reply Fri 2 Dec, 2011 07:19 pm
@cicerone imposter,
cicerone imposter wrote:

Because "soul" is based on religious belief, the foundation doesn't stand up to any scrutiny.

Whatever soul might be to the believer, it dies right along with his biology.


biology though has an energy form unto its self
 

Related Topics

Atheism - Discussion by littlek
The tolerant atheist - Discussion by Tuna
The "atheism" thread locked, yet again, eh? - Discussion by layman
Another day when there is no God - Discussion by edgarblythe
@MyFellowAtheists: How Big an Atheist Are You? - Question by Kolyo
Question to those who do or do not doubt Christianity - Discussion by XXSpadeMasterXX
church of atheism - Discussion by daredevil
THE MAGIC BUS COMES TO CANADA - Discussion by Setanta
The Atheist/Theist unity thread (a Discussion) - Discussion by Smileyrius
Can atheists believe in an immortal soul? - Question by neologist
 
  1. Forums
  2. » Can An Atheist Have A Soul?
  3. » Page 9
Copyright © 2024 MadLab, LLC :: Terms of Service :: Privacy Policy :: Page generated in 0.03 seconds on 04/19/2024 at 12:01:57
▲ ▼