true, but being human does not mean you have a soul either.

I suppose possibly people in comas no longer have a soul and yet are still alive. Otherwise all people have souls.

What the hell. How do you figure that people in a coma have no soul?

no no, consciousness does not = soul to me. I believe if we do have souls, some people have them, some people don't. some creatures/plants/animals have them, some don't.

How would one know who has souls and who doesn't?

I don't see it as physically possible for a functioning person to lack a soul. Without a soul, you can't think because without a soul, you'd be without conscienceness...so you are either dead or possibly in a coma. I suppose that would define part of what it means to die, your soul is destroyed.

Yes, the soul exists. I believe that the soul is ethereal energy from the earth, which in turn is from the galaxy, which goes all the way back to the beginning of life. The soul animates bodies. Like DNA, souls differ from body to body because they have been molded into their own unique forms ever since they were created. Much like twins separated at birth, they are made by their experiences. The soul is immortal, being recycled through the universe much like everything else. I really can't say whether or not the soul remains whole or it fragments like a decomposing body, but I would like to think that what we once experienced in our lives will never be truly lost, and that the lessons we learned can help us in our next life. I hope that I am still myself after I die, even if I'm not what I once was. I want to remember everything, but I'm not sure if I will. Maybe I thought the exact same thing in my potentially unlimited past lives. Like lives, I think that worlds are recycled as well. I don't know when it began, but I think that this reality could possibly be much older than anyone will ever know.

I believe things like trees and plants and even rocks have some sort of soul to them- even if it's not sentient. There was an experiment one time. A young boy started chopping up a plant- abusing it, pulling off the leaves, that kind of stuff. It was still alive, but badly damaged. A week or so later, scientists studied the pheremones that the plant excreted. As soon as the boy entered the room, the pheremones spiked.
Fear? Maybe. But they only did that when the boy who hurt it entered the room. So I believe that it possesses some form of sentience- simply not one that science can explain right now. There are many different processes and functions that scientists cannot explain. Plants and weeds have a sense of survival. Plants can excrete distasteful chemicals whenever insects that try to eat its leaves have at it. Vines attach to trees, absorbing the nutrients- a form of survival instinct. Flowers pollinate other flowers, showing the indirect want of propogating the species.
I'm just saying.

what about machines? they are fully functional. Computers process things similar to a human brain. does that mean they have a soul?

i strongly believe that we all have souls. If we didnt we would all the the same, think of it. most of us have the same amount of DNA information when if comes down to being human or animal. There has to be some defining point (soul) that makes us all different. Siamese twins look the same but in no way are they personality wise the same, yet their flesh appearance is the same. I believe that everyone's soul is different, and that your brain and life experiences can alter how each of are souls thinks, responds and feels. To me the soul looks like the wind, its a force not to be taken lightly but its always present whether its blowing or not. To me the "soul" is immortal, but once the flesh comes to an end, the soul no longer able hold on to the characteristics of life it had been attached to.Yes it does exist before birth as an empty slate in a matter of speaking only to be influenced. Yes clones have souls they may only be a copy of flesh and dna but they are still personality wise unique

I like the idea posed in Orson Scott Cards series "Ender's Game" I think the the thinking irrational part of you that breaths life into your body is the soul and it may leave when you die. However, some incredibly strong minded and strong willed souls may seek refuge somewhere else when their vessel fails, that is where the thought of reincarnation comes from. Animals have souls, but they are less complex than ours are and don't leap about.

If there was a computer that was as fast as thought itself, and large enough to hold one, I think that a computer should have a soul.

Clones must have souls because twins have souls

I am neutral-leaning-to-no about this. Unless it's definitely refuted or proven by science, my position on this remains.

If souls don't exist, what have all those tribespeople been begging me not to eat? :?

Seems like a lot of fuss to make over a substance which isn't real.

On the other hand, perhaps things don't have to be real to be important (and delectable.)

so, because we made them and completely understand them, they don't have souls?
we "grow" fetuses in us that grow into human biengs. Is that not making something? How can we determine what qualifications something should have in order to have a soul?
And, if plants don't have consciousness, then why do trees' leaves turn up when it's going to rain? and why do flowers close up at night?

I don't think souls exist, and I don't think it's fair to ask that science refute their existence. Science can only be applied to observable phenomena, so until effects that cannot be attributed to the physical body (including the brain) appear, there is no reason to assume that there is a supernatural or otherworldly factor in place.

We know that the brain and the hormones & substances that affect it are behind our personalities, memories, and mental functioning, so why attribute any of that to something that can't be explained or located?

How horrible is it that I am in a metaphysics class, but can't come up with a good argument or point of view for you right now?

I blame the fact that there's a lot of different theories and views, and I'm way too tired to recall them all now.

By the way, you made my day by having a philosophy discussion, I haven't found one on another avatar site yet.

I think we do have a "soul
But what really is a "soul"?
To me it's just an idea.

If you think it exists, then it probably does. If you think it doesn't it's the same. You know?