Is it possible to define the soul scientifically?

Question

Is the soul the byproduct of cognitive conditions of carbon-based mammals? If a robot is built with the same cognitive power, can it obtain a soul like a human? is a braindead person still have a soul? If you go through a teleportation machine with your molecules rescontructed again, can you lose your soul that way?

Answer 1

The soul, according to many religious and philosophical traditions, is a self aware ethereal substance particular to a unique living being. In these traditions the soul is thought to incorporate the inner essence of each living being, and to be the true basis for sentience. In distinction to spirit which may or may not be eternal, souls are usually (but not always as explained below) considered to be immortal and to pre-exist their incarnation in flesh. The concept of the soul has strong links with notions of an afterlife, but opinions may vary wildly, even within a given religion, as to what may happen to the soul after the death of the body. Many within these religions and philosophies see the soul as immaterial, while others consider it to possibly have a material component, and some have even tried to establish the mass (weight) of the soul. So yes a braindead person has a soul and yes if you were teleported hypothetically somewhere else your soul would be bound to you.

Answer 2

Well supposedly the moment someone dies, they lose some number of ounces of weight. No matter how big or small the person is, it's the same. That could mean you have a soul, and you lose it when you die. I don't exactly buy that, but it's interesting.

I think a soul is more an essence of existence than a condition of it. In other words anything that exists could potentially have a soul, but maybe not everything does. Maybe a robot would have a soul if it formed attachments and understood meaningful notions, but a robot that say, crunches numbers all day might not. A braindead person would have no reason to lose their soul because they still exist, and they may have had one to begin with. I think you might lose your soul in teleportation advice because a soul, in my opinion, isn't made up of anything.

Interesting question. :-)

Answer 3

The reason the soul would be difficult to define scientifically is
mainly because the human being has not yet been defined scientifically either...

Basically, the soul is the essence of a human being... All human
beings have a soul without exceptions.

The human body is only a 3D package for a soul...

Perhaps one scientific partial definition could start here:

single obedient ultimate life = s o u l = soul

Single= yes, we are all UNIQUE and all INDIVIDUAL

Obedient= yes, we have to obey certain rules wether as living
spirits before birth , and as well if we get to become
human beings. If these rules are not obeyed, your soul
may not live on...

Ultimate= yes, ultimate because it is the highest and purest form
of life that exixt... A soul does not NEED a body to
exist.

Life= yes, life... What is life? Growing, moving, developing.... A
soul has life, but it grows, moves and develops in many
ways when it is given the choice to have a HUMAN body
for a short period while comming on planet Earth...

SOUL...

A definition has to start somewhere, even if not perfect, even if only partial...

This is my knowlegeable scientific definition, based on my
memories of prior present human life, and all informations gathered from books, courses, other living human beings
present an passed, and a little inspiration from above....

Answer 4

Scientifically no one has explained what life(or soul) is. Till now they have tried to put together many complex words to define this divinity. As far as i know most of the religions have a similar concept about soul. Either goes to heaven or hell.

If you were to think sceintifically, I would say the whole world is an algorithm and we humans are sub processes. A soul then becomes active with birth of a process and death causes its termination. But still the process is there in the algorithm which creates a thought that souls never die.

Thinking so it might be difficult to teleport.

Answer 5

Yes, it's scientifically possible to come close to explaining the "Soul".

No, to all the other questions you've postulated there.

By process of elimination, you can conclude that the soul is not your corporeal body [which, incidentally, is not a simplistic carbon based entity]; you would eliminate the limitation of your soul to a single entity. You would find out that a mechanism also has a "soul" of sorts, as do inanimate objects. You'd find that the soul has just left the brain dead person. And you'd find that the teleportation device can only move your molecules and your soul is much faster than it.

The Ancient Hindus had a very elaborate Science that needed you to compute calculation up to 16 decimal point accuracy! And that was merely for the beginning of the rationalization regarding the Soul.

Therefore, they concluded "Deivehah nirguna,. nirakara!" The "Soul" or "God" is "beyond physical and intellectual comprehension".

Now, if you ask me why is that? The Answer is really very simply. Something as transient and relative as us and our Science can not even to begin to visualize the totality and immensity of the Absolute!?

Try a couple of thousands of calculations prescribed there of 16 decimal point accuracy and find out for yourself, if you don't want to take my word for it.

Answer 6

someone replied to this question that when the soul left the body upon death the body lost weight. This is not true. I am aware of this experiment and many others and no one could prove that a soul exists in our body. The reason the soul was invented was to satisfy the need for life after death. The body dies and then the SOUL goes to heaven. Man has always been afraid of death (nothing to be ashamed of. I know I am) and he has invented many stories about the hereafter. Heaven. Hell. And so on.

Answer 7

Think of a robot. Suppose in the near future scientists will be able to build complex human-like robots. No matter how much intelligence that robot is gona have it will not be human. It won't have feelings. It might respond to touch or sound, but that;s because it was programmed that way. Robot will just do what is programmed to do. It might be able to make complex decisions, but it won't have human-like feelings and emotions. THAT IS SOUL!

Answer 8

Your soul is given at time of conception through a much higher power. It is simply one of those things even the smatrest scientist cannot figure out. And man thinks they know So Much... YES a brain dead individual still has a soul. your soul is not your brain. it is so much more And no we cannot Teleport...

Answer 9

No. Science is based on observation. A soul cannot be observed (as of now?) through scientific methods.
Defining a soul lies in the realm of religion and that is where the line between science and religion is drawn.

Answer 10

The soul is YOU, not your body or body parts. You use your body
but it is not YOU!

Consider, should you lose your arms and legs, the body parts are gone but you are very much here. We can give you a heart transplant but you still remain.

Your eye shed water, we say tears, but your eyes do not care that they shed water, what cares is you. Neither do your eyes care what the focus on, they focus on what ever is in the line of sight, but the living essence that is YOU cares what the eyes focus on.

Your brain is not interested in your emotional issues, it does its function and provide you with the issues. You relate to the issues, not your brain.

When this body will not longer physically provide the functions that YOU need, you will leave it! It will go back to dust but not with you in it!