Do you believe in the soul?

Question

Do you think we are just like a robot, made by nature, or is our sense of self our own? I think that our personality, thoughts and most of our feelings are controlled by the brain, however what about our very basic sense of self, of being? It doesn't make sense to me, because how can a robot have a sense of itself? It would just function, according to the rules in its brain?

Answer 1

every cells of our body have their distinctive life....if we culture them they will alive..... moreover when we die, it does nt mean that all cells of our body die instantly also......cells remain alive some more hours even after death..... all cells r alive, but complete organism is not alive.... hw stange,is nt it?

so,there is soul or something lyk that.....

Answer 2

You have not defined the term soul.  Nevertheless, as you admit, all of our feelings, thoughts and sensations are a product of the brain.  Your error is to assume that without a soul, whatever that is, animals must be robots.  They are not.  Robots are the product of human engineers designed to obey as set of rules.  Living organisms are not designed to obey a set of rules.  They do obey the rules of physics, but they are not a priori designed to do it.

So, you have come up with a good question, i.e., how can an animal have a sense of itself?  This is the a testable question, and a lot of people are working on it.  For example, there are a number of disorders to the brain in which people deny that parts of their bodies belong to them.  Their sense of self is not working correctly because of physical trauma or genetic defects.  The brain is the place to look if you want to understand this.

Answer 3

This is an age old question that one can only answer for oneself.  It does not matter how convincing any argument is, if you believe you believe and if you don't you don't.  Personally I do believe we all have a "soul".