What exactly makes humans so great that we are (supposedly) the only species with a soul?

Answer 1

We were created in the image of God.

Answer 2

Just because many people believe that only humans have souls doen't mean that that is the case. The reason that many people believe that only humans have souls has to do with ego. We believe that we are the highest form of life so it must be. There's a song by Ed's Redeeming Qualities that muses that chickens are the only ones with souls. The song say that "people and dogs and cats just die." In this question you are also assuming that a soul is a presupposed fact, whereas it may not actually be the case. There may actually be no soul and we may actaully "just die."

Answer 3

We are the only species on the planet that has evolved to the point where we can abstract enough to invent a soul (or god). The measure of our maturity as a species will be when we evolve beyond the need of such delusional concepts that we use to give meaning to our otherwise mundane, or in some cases, pathetic lives.

Answer 4

Animals, at some of them, can reason. My dad once owned a hunting dog, a Chesapeake By Retriever) who would bring a downed bird to whomever had shot it! Perhaps you remember the London Zoo gorilla who rescued the child that fell into the exhibit?
She gently moved him to the access door and kept the other gorilla away until the zookeepers could get him out.

I am not saying this proves animals have souls, but I think that they may be much more complex than we will ever know.

Answer 5

Perhaps we weren't so different, before the apple incident. What many believe to be the 'soul', is a divine entity, seperate from divinity. A reflection, a shadow, an image. I believe our soul, is actually with God as we speak. It's a temporal illusion of seperation that causes grief in our lives. To test this theory, you would have to convince another species to rebel against their creator.

Answer 6

I wouldn't say humans are all that great. Every problem this planet ever had involved humans. But it would be a great place to live if yo could get rid of them all. I don't know it animals have a soul but I think we will see them in heaven. They are probably more obedient to God than most people.

Answer 7

lol no-one really knows that we are. Maybe the soul is simply an evolutionary step to help creatures exist in a multi-dimensional universe. Maybe plenty of creatures have souls but until they can speak our language or we can speak theirs, we can't know it.

Of course, many faiths believe that human beings were created above and beyond all other creatures by an omnipotent creator-god. There's no more evidence of that than there is of any other central religious tenet, but if someone believes it, then to them we are divinely singled-out from all other species. Me, I think we're just clawed our way to the top of the food chain and developed the wherewithal to know it.

Answer 8

The notion of the "soul" is simply a "deus ex machina" used to save bad arguments. There is no such thing - no human nor animal nor anything else has a "soul".

It is simply arrogance that makes so many of us so certain that we're qualitatively different from the other animals. In fact human beings are no more deserving of our kindness and good treatment than are other animals.

Answer 9

It's the brain. The fore brain makes it possible for us to have individual identities, whereas most animals are basically just a member of the species. Dogs and horses tend to become somewhat more like individuals because of their intimate relation to humans, and are given individual names by their human companions. Bit even they do not "think" in the same way that humans can be said to think, and do not have free will in the same sense.

If you cannot differentiate yourself from your species, from your instincts and intuitive responses, how can you be individually responsible for your actions? Because ultimately, what makes us individuals is the responsibility we feel to do the right thing; to be responsible for the soul and its integrity.

Answer 10

If you can believe the radio show I heard this morning, horses, dogs, and people share interchangable souls. The truth is, we don't know who does and who does not have an eternal soul. I've met some people that I would be surprised to learn have souls.

Answer 11

There is no such thing as a soul. The distinguishing characteristic of the species is the ability to use logic to draw proper inferences from evidence, but judging from the number of people who believe in superstitions such as supernatural entities, the number of people who actually use logic is small.