How can I prove souls exist?

Question

I'm doing a debate for a philosophy class. I have to argue that souls exist. Any suggestions? I'm trying to steer away from talking about the afterlife. Thanks.

Answer 1

I think first step is defining what a soul is. Most people have a vague idea about a soul is, but hammering down an exact definition is difficult to do. I know that the soul as it's perceived as an entity that exist apart from the brain doesn't exist. However, being as this is an assignment and you have to make that argument anyway, I'll give you a couple of arguments you can use.

First off, you can use near death experiences to make the argument that part of survives beyond death. wikipedia has all the information you need on the subject:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-death_experience

or you can also grab stuff from here, talk about out-of-body experiences as evidence of the souls existence while ignoring the afterlife:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_Of_Body_Experiences

I suppose you can you can argue from wide spread belief in the soul that it exists, even though that's a fallacious argument to make, it can still convince people.

Aside from that, I don't know if there is much you can do. You could probably make an argument about different levels of consciousness and say that one of the layers is really your soul, but it seems like a tenuous argument to make and I don't think anyone would buy it. That's definitely a tough assignment, arguing for the existence of things that everyone should know don't actually exist.

Answer 2

When you are in doubt or don't have enough information about the question you are asked, it's better to reframe the question and answer a related but different question.

For instance, if you are doubtful that soul's existence can be shown by any credible experiment or credible line of argument, then what you should do is to ask whether mind and soul are not the same things. Then you can make a plausible argument that medical professionals have observed that in patients with physical ailments and little chance of survival often those who believed they could survive did so. There are many case studies of this phenomenon. Then there is also placebo effect, which is as mysterious as ever, and inexplicable by the usual materialist arguments.

If mind is the same as soul, and it has such a power over our physical well being, then ergo soul is shown to be an everyday reality.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Answer 3

Frederick II, a Sicilian monarch of an experimental turn of mind, simply had a beggar brought in and stuffed into a barrel that was then sealed. After it was certain that the beggar was dead, Fred had the barrel placed on a scales and weighed. Then he opened the barrel and weighted it a second time. The difference would, he thought, represent the weight of the soul. Alas, there was no difference.

He did not hold that he had proved that there is not such thing as the soul, which he believed, but that he had shown whatever else, the soul had not weight even if it did exist.

We all feel that there is some non-material dimension to ourselves, and often this makes talk of souls acceptable. To me it seems more probable that what we are sensing is our senses.

Answer 4

It is very hard to proof something that is not tangible. You don't see the wind but it exists because you see the effects. You see the human body function therefore something is supplying the power for it to function, and that would be the spirit. It is like the electricity with the light bulb you see its effects when the light bulb is on but if the bulb dies like the human body it ceases to shine but the electricity is still there. The spirit has the soul attached to it because it is the spirits recorder the archives for the spirit. Like stated before it relates to Plato's theory. The spirit never dies it does not go to heaven or hell. It just lets go of this body and reincarnates to fulfill another mission. That is where intelligence proofs there is such a thing as reincarnation. True trinity is: SPIRIT, SOUL AND BODY. Being positive, grounding and negative. Peace and love be with you.

Answer 5

The Ancient Greeks had some ideas about the immutability of the Soul. Paramenides and Plato write on the nature of the soul. I am not convinced however.

Answer 6

Electromagnetics. Ancient lore stated the soul was the fire that rested in the water, and thousands of years later we found the electric fire travelling our nerves, creating storms of thought inside our brains. Perhaps when we die this energy is released? Perhaps the burning bush Moses saw was glowing with St. Elmo's fire? Perhaps this is how it spoke to him, through the Wernick's area in his brain via electric signals. Perhaps this is why the Ark of the Covenant is made of gold, a really good conductor, and priests would communicate with God through it.

It's a start.

Answer 7

I'm a Christian, but that is a hard question. To me the existence of a soul is something that has to believed of with faith, not any material proof. There is proof in the Bible, but non-believers seem to have a hard time accepting anything in God's Word. I'm sure there are places online though that will show you Biblical proof and also the thoughts of leading Christians about it.

Answer 8

Dr. Maurice Rawlings, is a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Chattanooga, and his colleagues are constantly treating emergency patients, many of whom have had near-death experiences. A study of these cases by Dr. Rawlings was reported in Omni magazine.

It is no longer unusual to hear about people who have almost died who speak of seeing a bright light, lush green meadows, rows of smiling relatives and experiencing a deep sense of peace. However, Dr. Rawlings obtains additional information from his patients by interviewing them immediately following resuscitation while they are very much in touch with their experience.

Dr. Rawlings says that nearly fifty percent of the 300 people that he has interviewed have reported lakes of fire, devil-like figures and other sights reflecting the darkness of hell. Rawlings says that these people later change their story because they don’t want to admit where they’ve been, not even to their families. "Just listening to these patients has changed my whole life," claims Dr. Rawlings. "There is a life after death, and if I don’t know where I’m going, it’s not safe to die."

Dr. Rawlings, a devout atheist, "considered all religion "hocus-pocus" and death nothing more than a painless extinction". But something happened in 1977 that brought a dramatic change in the life of Dr. Rawlings! He was resuscitating a man, terrified and screaming.

"Each time he regained heartbeat and respiration, the patient screamed, "I am in hell!" He was terrified and pleaded with me to help him. I was scared to death. . . Then I noticed a genuinely alarmed look on his face. He had a terrified look worse than the expression seen in death! This patient had a grotesque grimace expressing sheer horror! His pupils were dilated, and he was perspiring and trembling — he looked as if his hair was "on end."

Then still another strange thing happened. He said, "Don’t you understand? I am in hell. . . Don’t let me go back to hell!" . . .the man was serious, and it finally occurred to me that he was indeed in trouble. He was in a panic like I had never seen before." Dr. Rawlings said, no one, who could have heard his screams and saw the look of terror on his face could doubt for a single minute that he was actually in a place called hell!

Answer 9

That may be quite a difficult task. Science is designed to merely prove things.. It doesn't disprove things. So just because there isn't any measurable proof yet, you can't just knock the whole idea.

Answer 10

Refer to Plato! He was a firm beleiver that your intelligence is actually just a souvenir of what you already know from other lives experience. Your soul would then have to come back on earth several times... What do you reckon?