Do our pets have souls?

Question

I've had a cat for over 15 years, and he seems like a little person to me? Is he really that different from humans?

Answer 1

First of all, what you call “soul,” I call consciousness. For the record, I don’t believe it survives after death, as a lot of people believe. Your brain creates consciousness one second at a time and when the brain dies, so does the consciousness it was producing.

But that’s another issue. Every animal that has sensory organs and a brain has a consciousness. The quality of that consciousness experience varies with the kind of brain the animal has. You’re familiar with human consciousness, produced by your human brain.

Like you, your cat is a mammal. Mammalian brains have a cerebral cortex (the thinking part of the brain). By contrast, reptiles do not. Big difference. There are two aspects of a human brain that make a bigger difference than any other, when compared to all other mammals. First, the language centers, located on the left side of the cortex in most people. Second, the large frontal lobes. This is the area that “connects the dots,” the “executive area” that performs logic and intuition, evaluates, analyzes, solves, decides, plans and organizes. Human intelligence is thought of as “higher-order intelligence” mostly because of language and abilities performed by the front lobes of the cortex. In humans, the frontal lobes take up about 30% of the cortex. In cats, 3%. Dogs, 2%. Chimps, 10%.

The 3% frontal lobe area in cats is not zero percent. It’s there. So if you want to know what cat consciousness is like, imagine if you had only 10% of your current capacity to reason, etc. And you couldn’t talk. You could express yourself nonverbally, but not with language.

Bottom line…YES. Dogs and cats have consciousness. They perceive, recognize, remember, feel, and even think to a degree. They solve problems in a rudimentary way. Instinct is big in their thinking, but they connect the dots before deciding from time to time. They form lasting relationships.

Beware of feeling proud and arrogant because of your fancy human brain. Dogs and cats don’t get wrapped around the axle as easy as we do. They don’t hold grudges. They don’t feel self-pity. They aren’t petty. The have no politics. They are totally honest. They are doing nothing to destroy the air, water, ground and climate of the Earth, which we need to survive. I could go on…

Answer 2

Although many people would say no, I find that hard to believe. Your cat has a personality, right? Where does that come from? He has feelings which, I'm sure you take not of. Where do they come from?

The theory about humans is, that our souls are the home of all feelings, and they are the places inside us that make us unique. You can't find the soul of a person in an autopsy, because its not a physical being. I believe that all animals, including humans, have souls. Without them your cat would only care about physical needs like eating and using the restroom. He wouldn't care about affection, or purr when he's content for that matter.

Answer 3

Great question with no defined answer, I'm afraid.

We seem to believe that we are superior to animals because of our souls, some use our free will and rationality as a credential to justify this belief. So what about dolphins, apes, and dogs? Do they have "lesser" souls based on "lesser" reasoning ability? And how do they compare to rats and rats to ants? Is there a gradient down which worth is ascribed? Is it worse to see a monkey killed than an ant? Why or why not?
Most religions set man apart and place animals in a "separate but equal" category (all animals being separate from man but equal to one another).

Slaves were once placed into this "separate but equal" category- in Ancient Greece and in the United States, in order to justify "inhumane" treatment. The Greeks once used the fact that slavery was a lesser evil than razing entire villages after conquests, but US Slavery did not have this justification behind it. Eventually slaves were freed and given "partial humanship", but it obviously had to be decided whether they were human or not. The whole system was based on a simple flaws in logic, but entrenched by power.

There is alot of philosophy on animal rights, and the foundation of this philosophy rests firmly on this question, among others. It's a great question with no concrete answer, but I think you either believe one of three things: 1) All life is equal, 2) life has worth corresponding to intelligence/rationality, or 3) Man is the master (or steward) of all living things (as assigned by God?).

Answer 4

It relies upon on the form you define "soul". If the souls is purely the "existence concept" and loss of existence ability separation of soul and physique, then animals must be mentioned to have a "soul". So ought to vegetation for that count. yet what we do be attentive to is that animals don't have an immortal soul. while they die they only end to exist.

Answer 5

We certainly have cognitive powers above and beyond the capabilities of the common house cat.

In the strictest sense of the term, only humans have souls, but many animals certainly have the capacity to experience loneliness when a partner dies, to become joyful at the sight of a friend, to pout after being admonished...

Answer 6

Not as a cat.. But when he dies & is reborn, pray that he comes back human, then he'll have at least a degree of spiritual awareness, some of the animals behavioural traits may linger too..

Answer 7

What a great question. I have heard sadly they don't (but who's to say really?)

Having had dogs all my life I find that so difficult to believe.

I still mourn the loss of a St.Bernie/Lab mix that I lost to a car accident 3 years ago. That dog was soulful. I couldn't believe otherwise.

Answer 8

Assertions about the soul, are found in the domain of Aristotle. He believed in the soul, but I think he called it "psyche" so as to seperate the inner counsciousness from religion.

Answer 9

of course all living things have souls


we as Native Americans believe every living things have souls
they eat,drink,sleep,grow,live just like humans do

Answer 10

Gee, I hope animals have souls or my reading teacher would refuse to die.