Do animals have souls?
 

I was watching a video by the Amazing Atheist, I think it was called "Can dogs have souls?" and I don't have a dog, so I have never "loved" a dog as a pet, but I have a cat...My cat licks me and lays with me when I am off to bed sometimes, and if he were a person, that would be just as effective as someone kissing my cheek, same purposes, same amount of love and respect. My cat catches a dead baby mouse and plays with it, just like how a child would play with a toy as his family stares. My cat broke his leg or foot accidentally in 2006, and he would limp as he walked, you could tell he was in pain...When someone breaks their foot or leg, they limp, but sometimes they have crutches, so they don't walk and limp and further damage the wound.

When you pet a cat's head, he closes his eyes and shows an obvious sign of love and desire to be pet and loved, humans and cats are no different, all mammals have the same missions in life; which is to produce and spread their seed around to make the world grow in population.

Can animals have souls?

souls are made up

only the cute ones

if humans have souls than so do other animals

but yeah, they are made up

in a jungian context the mind is the soul or 'spirit' so technically they do have them. its just not self aware

christ i'm bored

I was a squirrel in a past life, so yeah.

if animals did not have souls then they could not be soul trapped, so obviously they have them

elders scrolls logic win

humans do not have souls

obviously the people in here who claims to definately know that pets have no souls are talking out of their ass. it might seem likely to us but we can't know for sure. instead of soul let's talk about consciousness, that's more interesting. When does a neural network produce a counsciousness? how advanced does it have to be? does a squirrel have a consciousness? does a dog? does a fish have a consiousness and so forth. the answer is that science can't answer that question and perhaps it never will!!!

great answer!!!

THE BIRDHOUSE OF THE GODS!!!

Just because science cannot prove that something does not exist, doesn't mean that it defaults to existing. The whole burden of proof thing is partly why mock-deities like The Flying Spaghetti Monster and The Invisible Pink Unicorn are born.

You're probably being facetious, but ah well.

i haven't claimed that it defaults to existing dummy. ya dofus.

exactly.

Oh word?

WORD! YA DOOFUS!

there is no such thing as "souls".

the only true life is the life of the mind. when the mind ceases it's all over.

i was just reading this today
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highly_sensitive_person

pretty interesting to see that it exists in nearly all animals as well

SCOTTY DOESNT HAVE A SOUL
WAY TO BREATHE, NO BREATH!

Yes they do.

i've heard people argue that 'consciousness' begins when you are aware you can die and know the concept of death. so sentience basically. are they aware they have a life? do they feel complex emotions? of course no one knows. but unless we are talking about the jungian concept of the soul, as previously mentioned, the existence of souls according to webster's is:

nope, doesn't exist

nope

nope

okay here is where we are coming to jungian definitions and i would agree at least some animals have souls, although i don't know how many are capable of sentiments
irrelevant to this discussion.


consciousness, then, is indeed a much more interesting concept in this case. do simpler forms of life than animals have any consciousness?

boston terriers do

a thing that cannot be defined exists if we can demonstrate that the world would not function normally if we removed, ie "quality", "consciousness"

people and animals transcend the atoms and tissues which comprise them. humans to a greater degree but that's really what we're talking about here, something which transcends not only the gross realm but the mental as well

ew realm lol

this thread is now about people with weird beards

http://files.myopera.com/bskushwah/a...025/beard7.jpg

what is that supposed mean?

you ARE the matter that composes you. you are a blood and bone filled sack of chemical reactions. you are atoms that were created inside stars, that shot out into space, condensed into a planet and eventually became organized into organisms.

that's all you are. and it's likely that you aren't even unique in the universe, since there are more planets than there are stars. just because you feel special because you can comprehend the expanse of time and space and you have a hard wired predispostion toward regliosity, doesn't mean that your consciousness "transcends" your physical existance. it does not. you are the sum total of your genes and experiences and you have a short shelf life.

enjoy what you have now. cause that's all there is for you. Unless you can take solace in the realization that your molecules and atoms will be recycled into the earth's biosphere countless times before our Sun finally goes supernova, and blasts all your electrons and protons back out into space one more time....

you seem really sure of yourself.

why don't you blow a priest

because i'm not a homosexual. i just like how you're preaching here.