Do animals have souls?

[Rasofy]

Tip: the question only makes sense for those that believe in the concept of soul.

Questions:

Do animals have souls?

Can they go to hell or heaven?

Is it fair?

 

[Munchies]

No i'm religiouse i think humans are the only defined being and everythign else was put in place for us to devour mindlessly

 

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

Soul is what makes everything alive. Be it plant or animal.

 

[Stanton Moore]

Soul is what makes everything alive. Be it plant or animal.

You're an animist! I knew there had to be a reason I like you so much!

 

[Lark]

Yes.

I dont believe animals can go to hell because their natures are different to those of mankind.

 

[Antimony]

Animals are around to eat, have sex, and kill each other oftentimes.

That isn't different from mankind.

 

[Aquarelle]

Yes, absolutely animals have souls. I'm not religious and I don't believe in Hell, but I tell ya what, if Heaven exists and my dog's not going there, then I don't want to go there, either.

 

[Lark]

Yes, absolutely animals have souls. I'm not religious and I don't believe in Hell, but I tell ya what, if Heaven exists and my dog's not going there, then I don't want to go there, either.

Animals are innocents and unlikely to be inclined towards malice without bad training or trauma or something. Perhaps this is the case with humans too if you take a strictly deterministic and developmentalist approach but the capacity for cognition and reflection being so different in humans, adding up to the different nature, means that humans have greater choice and capacity for change, when they refuse to and knowingly do wrong they are or will be living in hell, as they live their live so shall they exist in the afterlife, if God has an afterlife planned for them.

I'm prepared to believe that God could decide that any of the things imagined in the world religions or simply nothing is the destiny of anyone, its impossible to know and trying to know or discover for certain seems like a kind of a bad way to spend this life. We only get one and it should be spent in joyful rather than morose ways.

And in that dogs and animals can teach each and everyone of us a lot.

 

[Such Irony]

I don't believe in heaven or hell. I'm not sure whether or not there's such a thing as a soul. If there is, I don't see why animals can't have souls like humans do. It would just manifest differently because its a different species with a different type of 'intelligence.'

 

[UniqueMixture]

I believe most mammals have emotions and are self aware. I believe soul is that emergent function seperate from it's parts that creates reality and yes I do believe animals have this (also "inanimate" entities)

 

[Lark]

Soul is what makes everything alive. Be it plant or animal.

Yes. Yes, I believe this. I think that God animates all things and is in all things but I'm not a pantheist at the same time.

The greatest depiction in literature I've read of the idea was in Philip K. Dick's The Divine Invasion in which God is depicted as remembering the universe and should he forget for a moment all that exists ceases to be but when he remembers again it is restored and none of those things in existence are aware of what has happened, that book succeeds in describing good and evil and the incarnation of prophets and Jesus aswell as any other source that I've read and it does so, interestingly, by drawing analogies with the splitting of a human psyche.

 

[Lark]

I also like the tales of the afterlife in which the recently deceased are met by either the spirit of deceased pets or in which God appears to them in the familiar shape of animals they have loved during their lives. I have read good books and I have one on order which is a sci fi book about how even should an afterlife exist that death and dying could be such a traumatic experience as to render whatever consciousness remains traumatised or mad. The idea that God or some of the heavenly host could manifest in that way to try to save a spirit from that has some appeal.

 

[UniqueMixture]

[MENTION=7280]Lark[/MENTION]: just out of curiousity, what do you think of Tipler's Omega point if you've seen it?

 

[Eric B]

They have souls, but not spirits.

One person I read years ago, divided the two according to the emotions associated with them:
Our 12 basic emotions are the "humane" emotions, (love/hate, desire/aversion, joy/sadness), which are ennobled by our or "intellect" ("intuitive", or "contemplative" mind); thus making up our "heart"; and also our "utilitarian" emotions (hope/despair, courage/fear, peace*/anger), which aid our "reason" ("working" or "discursive" mind) thus making up our "mind".

Upwardly,"the humane emotions are intimately linked with our spirit, and the utilitarian emotions with our reason" [i.e. soul]. Downward, both groups are linked with our body. The humane emotions are from our "pleasure appetite" and cause inner movement within the psyche. They are our responses to what we perceive as "good" or "bad". Our intuitive mind also receives its knowledge from such sources as nature, the arts, and faith. The utilitarian emotions of our "utility appetite" move us to action to make life better or respond to threats to our happiness or well being. Thus, they are concerned with mundane things; what is useful or harmful. It's the humane emotions that distinguish us from animals (hence, "humane"). While they certainly share the utilitarian emotions (anger, courage, etc) with us, the other set of emotions are not "ennobled" in them, being that they have instinct to guide them. Since we have those emotions, our instincts are undeveloped or "sophisticated" (its character altered).

 

[Lark]

[MENTION=7280]Lark[/MENTION]: just out of curiousity, what do you think of Tipler's Omega point if you've seen it?

Never heard of it, what is it?

 

[Horrible Aesthete]

Animals don't have souls. Humans don't have souls. There is no heaven and no hell. I do not keep pets, but I am a vegan, so I do afford animals other than the human variety the same measure of respect.

 

[Munchies]

They have souls, but not spirits.

One person I read years ago, divided the two according to the emotions associated with them:
Our 12 basic emotions are the "humane" emotions, (love/hate, desire/aversion, joy/sadness), which are ennobled by our or "intellect" ("intuitive", or "contemplative" mind); thus making up our "heart"; and also our "utilitarian" emotions (hope/despair, courage/fear, peace*/anger), which aid our "reason" ("working" or "discursive" mind) thus making up our "mind".

Upwardly,"the humane emotions are intimately linked with our spirit, and the utilitarian emotions with our reason" [i.e. soul]. Downward, both groups are linked with our body. The humane emotions are from our "pleasure appetite" and cause inner movement within the psyche. They are our responses to what we perceive as "good" or "bad". Our intuitive mind also receives its knowledge from such sources as nature, the arts, and faith. The utilitarian emotions of our "utility appetite" move us to action to make life better or respond to threats to our happiness or well being. Thus, they are concerned with mundane things; what is useful or harmful. It's the humane emotions that distinguish us from animals (hence, "humane"). While they certainly share the utilitarian emotions (anger, courage, etc) with us, the other set of emotions are not "ennobled" in them, being that they have instinct to guide them. Since we have those emotions, our instincts are undeveloped or "sophisticated" (its character altered).

lol

 

[Within]

Tip: the question only makes sense for those that believe in the concept of soul.

I disagree.

 

[Rasofy]

I disagree.

Your religion must be a very interesting one.

 

[Within]

Your religion must be a very interesting one.

You are a master of understatement.