...The Soul The concept of the soul is an integral point of concern in the writings of both Plato and Aristotle. Plato views the soul as beyond the body, something that must be released from the grip of mortality. Despite being the student of Plato, Aristotle has his own line of reasoning in regards to the soul, tying the existence of the soul to the existence of life. I will endeavor to show the differences between their thoughts on the soul and its purpose in their philosophical ideology, with the purpose of explaining how Aristotle’s beliefs on the matter of the soul are preferable. One of Plato’s clearest exposition on the soul occurs during the recounting of the death of Socrates, wherein Socrates tells of how “the wise man will want to be ever with him who is better than himself” and further that “the real philosopher has reason to be of good cheer when he is about to die” (Plato). These statements on death will serve as an opening for the rest the Plato’s theories on the soul; the idea that for true knowledge to be grasped, the soul must be freed from the prison of the body. Plato argues that the soul, as an immortal expression of being, is capable of existing beyond the mortal world. He asserts that the body is a detriment to the pursuit of pure knowledge, that it “is a source of endless trouble to us…” (Plato), leading to the idea that purity can only be achieved once the soul is freed. One of the arguments Plato employs as his reasoning for the idea of the Soul being...
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...The soul (psyche) is the structure of the body - its function and organization. This was the word Greeks gave to the animator, the living force in a living being. For Aristotle the psyche controlled reproduction, movement and perception. In contrast Aristotle regarded reason (nous) as the highest form of rationality. He believed that the ‘unmoved mover’ of the universe was a cosmic nous. Aristotle thought that the soul is the Form of the body. The soul is simply the sum total of the operations of a human being. Aristotle believed that there exists a hierarchy of living things – plants only have a vegetative soul, animals are above plants because they have appetites, humans are above animals because it has the power of reason. Aristotle tries to explain his understanding of the distinction between the body and the soul using the analogy of an axe. If an axe were a living thing then its body would be made of wood and metal. However, its soul would be the thing which made it an axe i.e. its capacity to chop. If it lost its ability to chop it would cease to be an axe – it would simply be wood and metal. Another illustration he uses is the eye. If the eye were an animal, sight would have to be its soul. When the eye no longer sees then it is an eye in name only. Likewise, a dead animal is only an animal in name only – it has the same body but it has lost its soul. What is important for Aristotle is the end purpose of something – an axe chops, an eye sees, an animal...
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...This is not my soul. People would think I was crazy if I told them about it… so it’s this white sheet of paper that I’ll bare myself onto. My soul is weak, it has been known to hide and sulk. My soul is wiry and ducks behind backyard fences to get away from bullies. My soul cries and understands the long-term benefits of self pity, and regret. My soul smiles and it nods agreeingly at injustices. My soul does not use my eyes to see, but rather to discern. My soul is logical, and employs reason and not passion. I do not know what a soul is, but this is not my soul. I know it with every fibre of who I am, because I felt it leave and I felt something new … and I felt full. I know because I’m not the same. It was at the third call back. I always get calls backs, but I never get the part. I’m one of those guys who look like they would fit into the costume, or whatever persona they happen to be casting for that day. I look like every guy because I am every guy, but something is missing inside of me. No one tells me what it is, because no one knows. No one knows what makes people who they are, and who theiy aren’t. No one sees inside you. No one looks, so I would imagine the very simple act of taking a soul would go unnoticed, for everyone but the object, and I’d be right. There were three people watching my every move this time; three desperate souls in which their gaze felt almost judgmental against the nervous emotion which was struck upon my face, two were resting on various parts...
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...PHL 210: Introduction to Philosophy Final Project: Is there such a thing as a Soul? 6/5/2014 The topic that I have chosen for my essay is, Is there such a thing as a “Soul”? Is the soul something different from the brain? Does the soul survive after our physical death? There has been much speculation on if humans truly do have a soul, if the soul is the same as our brain, what happens after we die? Does our soul continue on to become something else in an afterlife? What do different religions believe happen in the afterlife? Do we stay the same just without our physical body, or is it really the end? The definition of a soul as defined in the Merriam Webster dictionary is ("Soul," 2014): 1. The spiritual part of a person that is believed to give life to the body and in many religions is believed to live forever 2. A person's deeply felt moral and emotional nature 3. The ability of a person to feel kindness and sympathy for others, to appreciate beauty and art, etc. When thinking of the difference between the brain and the soul. The soul is one nonphysical dimension of a person. A human person is a spiritual entity that has an involvement with a particular physical body. The brain is an essential organ that is of more than usual interest and is one part of the embodied dimension of the human body (Willard, 2002). There are many variations as to what occurs when our life comes to an end. In each religion there is some form of afterlife, some of these ideas...
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...Soul Surfer In the 1960s, the term “soul surfer” was used to describe a surfer who surfed for the pure pleasure of surfing. Though they may enter competitions, a soul surfer is more so motivated by a spiritual, compassionate, peaceful way of life. The movie, Soul Surfer is a film adaptation based on the 2004 autobiography Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on Board by American professional surfer, Bethany Hamilton. The main characters at the heart of the story are Bethany Hamilton who lives in Kauai, Hawaii with her parents Tom and Cheri, and two brothers, Noah and Timmy, who all happen to be surfers as well. But Bethany, along with her best friend, Alana Blanchard has a passion for the sport and work to become competitive professional surfers. Another character that plays a major role in Bethany’s life is her youth ministry leader, Sarah Hill. In the film, Bethany narrates and retells her story of how as young teenage girl, she lived and breathed surfing and being in the water and her dreams and goals of becoming a professional surfer. It’s an account of her life on how after losing her arm in a shark attack she had to adjust to life as a handicap and had to decide whether it was going to define her as handicap. Throughout the film, Bethany tries to find a way to recover her “soul” by looking to her Christian faiths and beliefs that somehow she felt were being tested. Media attention was brought to the family resulting of the shark attack...
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...Abstract The human soul has been described by many as the ambience, the true identifier of the human being, the inner dwelling place of our faith, the spiritual “heart” of man, the seat of human consciousness and freedom. I like to define the soul as the full personification of a human that includes his total being that drives his moral and emotional actions. Many have been described as being without a soul. The bible in Ezekiel 18:20 says that “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.” This means that the soul is held accountable for every actions it takes and has the responsibility of being the check and balance of the human being. Keywords: Consciousness, being, thoughts, feelings, emotions PERSONAL ETHICS STATEMENT: AN ETHICAL SELF (SOUL) According to Willard (2002), “it is God’s intention that our lives should be a seamless manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23, NASB) (para. 9). He also stated that “appropriate attention to the care of our souls through His empowerment will yield this rich spiritual fruit and deliver us from the sad list of the “deeds of the flesh” (para.10). I’ve always asked myself questions like ‘what is the strength of my character...
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...Statement: An Ethical Soul Elisa Gwilliam Concordia University Personal Ethics Statement: An Ethical Soul Life is a journey of experimental learning. Ethics are an important part of our journey, as they help us navigate the point at which our inner being intersects with the world. This paper will examine Palmer, Borgmann, and Willard definitions of the soul and their reflection on the caring of the core ethical self. Finally, it will examine where the soul is being disposed to unethical activities as well as ethical flourishing. Soul Ethics Body, mind and soul. Authors throughout time have pondered the development and relationship amongst the three. What is the soul? Willard (2004) defines the soul as “the hidden or ‘spiritual’ side of the person” (para. 2). Developing the spiritual side of a person, caring for their soul, comes down to one fundamental thing according to Willard, “keeping God before our minds.” To do this we can practice solitude and silence. These practices can be incorporated into our daily lives to care for our soul. During these times of deep reflection a person can rest, observe and disengage from the constant information that is out in the world. According to Willard during these periods of time “we rid ourselves of the ‘corrosion’ of the soul that accrues from constant interaction with others and the world around us.” Referencing Aristotle, Borgmann (2006) defines the soul as “the vital source of a human being” (p.133). The soul is cared for through...
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...Aristotle and the Soul Versus Health Care Ashley Pagan Introduction to Philosophy Dr. J May 26, 2012 Aristotle and the Soul Versus Health Care While Aristotle did not believe in a supernatural Creator or God, he did believe in the human soul. However, Aristotle’s beliefs concerning the human soul differed from the thoughts of those of Plato under whom he studied. Aristotle believed that the soul or “ultimate purpose” describes one’s unique purpose within the natural order (Chaffee, 2011). Unlike Plato, Aristotle’s views concerning the soul were in no way supernatural. He believed that everything consisted of matter and form. Matter was the stuff that makes up the material universes and form refers to the essence that makes things what they are (Chaffee, 2011). Taken together it is matter and form creates formed matter or substance and requires each other in order to exist. With that being said Aristotle believed that the soul was the formal element of the body, giving it shape and purposeful direction (Chaffee, 2011). Along with his theory of the existence of the soul, Aristotle also hypothesized the contents and necessary conditions of the soul. He argued that there are natural bodies, some are living and others are not. In his argument Aristotle calls attention to the fact that whatever has a soul, in the human sense, displays life. Aristotle believed that a besouled natural body could grow, decay and at the same time provide itself with nutrition; the soul is further characterized...
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...Souls on Ice Individuality and commonness are but one of two things. Although, these two are expressed in different ways, so Mark Doty implies in his essay and poem “Souls on Ice”. The essay can be seen as the progression of Doty’s epiphany about himself as a person, which is idealistically described in his poem. Doty begins his essay by recounting a time in a Stop ‘N Shop in which he was star struck by the beauty and luminosity of a stack of mackerels. Metaphors are used to describe the event and are also claimed to be what makes us as an individual person. Upon Doty’s gaze at the mackerels, metaphors served as his thinking which he knew were unique and his very own. Moreover, descriptions formulated about the fishes brought Doty to the realization of what he perceives reflects his own psychic state, but can easily be mistaken for “neutral” thinking. “Soul, heaven” were put in the poem for the sole purpose of yielding depth. These two words engaged Doty to argue whether or not he, or you, could lose oneself “entirely in the universe / of shimmer”. Now, it is important to note that he did not distinguish between each mackerel, but instead saw them as a whole, hence why he questions what it means to be a self. After realizing the poem’s “subject-beneath-the-subject”, it is then he decides what it means to be a self. Doty explains how even though the mackerels were dead; they still seemed to live on through the very essence they gave off as a whole. Thus, stating that the moral...
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...mind and body, as we will see, were developed on the assumption that knowledge comes from experience. Some theories were so powerful that they have been moulded and manipulated to fit into the faculty of various religious beliefs and practices. The contributions of Socrates (500 BC) still remain to this day, and are studied in great depth such as the “Republic of Plato” which was written by Plato. Socrates, one of the world’s most influential philosophers, who was seemingly ahead of his time, shaped elegant theories which illuminated many of the puzzling aspects regarding life and death – body and soul. In the following narrative, we will describe the main differences, properties, and functions between the body and the soul, according to Socrates. Accompanying will be an explanation of what Socrates sought to be the underlying characteristics interacting within the body and soul. The ways in which Socrates describes the characteristics is what makes him so fundamentally different from any other philosopher. The following information is based on an exceptional piece of literature titled, “Phaedo” which was originally written by Plato, and more recently translated by G.M.A. Grube (2000). In the beginning of Phaedo, Socrates introduces various sub-theme theories that he uses to validate and solidify his convictions on the explanation of...
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...John Later Professor Shabbat English 015/102 21 October 2013 Response to Chapter 4 of Beautiful Souls By now it’s safe to say that the book Beautiful Souls is about people who stand out because they face adversity and don’t just sit there and let bad things happen on their watch. With saying this, I feel that the final chapter of this book was one of the best ones because it shows how one doesn’t have to “doctor the papers of desperate refugees fleeing the Gestapo or mislead the guards at a prison camp in the throes of a bloody war” to be considered a beautiful soul (Press 134). It’s an important thing to know this because after reading most of this book, I thought that I couldn’t possibly bracket myself with people like Paul Grueninger or Avner Wishnitzer because I don’t live in an area in which people are being figuratively suffocated or oppressed; however, after reading Leyla Wydler’s story, I realized that me along with every other common citizen has the ability to be a “beautiful soul”. Leyla Wydler basically got caught up in a big Ponzi scheme that she narrowly avoided because of her hunches on how sketchy her former companies tactics and financial books looked. In this situation, Wydler could have easily said “Ok, I’m out of this mess so I really don’t have to warn anybody. If the ship sinks, too bad for the people on it.” However, because Wydler is a “beautiful soul”, she decided to take action and start mailing letters to important news agencies, companies, as well...
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...The Strongest Support of the Soul ——Appreciation of the eternal artistry in Ode on a Grecian Urn and Sailing to Byzantine Abstract: From the romantic poet John Keats to symbolical poet W. B. Yeats, both of them were persistently searching the eternity in the long journey of life. This paper tries to through the analysis of the two poems, Keats' Ode on a Grecian Urn and Yeats' Sailing to Byzantium to reveal the truth that the strongest support of the soul not lies in the empty and rapidly decayed body but relies on the eternal artistry which transcends the time and space. Although the former comes from the romantic imagination of an exquisite works of art---an ancient Grecian urn, the latter originates from the Byzantium which is the symbol of art, of eternity, both of them contain the similar life philosophy, that is the immortal life lies in the art of eternal. Key words: Ode on a Grecian Urn ; Sailing to Byzantium; eternal artistry; timeless Introduction Life is limited, yet it is possible to find the eternal life. Is it contradictory? How can life be limited as well as eternal at the same time? Could it be true that life has no ending? Actually, as we all know, no matter who you are, rich or poor, beautiful or ugly, smart or mediocre, eventually you will die. However, there is one thing will never die, which is not belong to this dusty world.—that is the eternal artistry. It is true that the art will never die. Only...
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...A SOUL INSPIRED BY HIM We are born to be an instrument of change or an instrument of destruction. Many are born with inherent audacity and many are born with a lack of it. Many possess certain characteristics that are distinct while others don’t have; but I believe that every individual has hidden uniqueness that lies within them. They only need a rope to show in order to outstand. Life was never been a smooth sail and the road is not flat but rough and it is the way of life. Many of us surrendered, but many surpassed due to resiliency. I was once a slave of my past, a void soul. Prisoned by memory which inflicts agony to my entire being. Shattered, and doesn’t know how to pick up the broken pieces of my life. One significant event in a gloomy day, that a bewildered soul is a total mystery. A voice and an obscure image appear with strong conviction, leaving words that were almost a melody to be heard help me change my life and my perspective, an apparition of Him that inspired a void soul, with so much love and compassion. A life is worth living, not a life to sulk over the memories of past. The world is indeed cruel but I learned to see the optimistic side of it. I learned to see the world behind the prison cell I created. I have faith that one day, every rough place will be made plain, and crooked place will be made straight. If we listen and restore faith in Him, no soul is in agony, if we believe in His existence and power...
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...Soul Scrolls are another way that atwood indicates persecution through sight. Soul Scrolls are printed prayers about only five things; health, wealth, a death, a birth and a sin. The handmaids use the Soul Scrolls as a way to talk to God. even though, a prayer is supposed to be personal and not to be shared with everyone, but now it is something that the Gilead society regulates. The handmaids have clear instructions on how to pray, “pick the one you want, punch the number, then punch in your own number so your account will be debited, ad punch in the number of times you want the prayer repeated” (167). This system is very tedious and strategic, it makes it so the prayers can be seen and heard by Gilead. Nevertheless, when offred thinks about...
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...is a contentious area of philosophy, and has created a debate known as “the mind, body problem”. Such philosophers as Plato take a dualist view and try to offer evidence to suggest a distinction between the body and soul. Plato saw the body and soul as two separate entities. The soul that most closely resembles the divine and immortal. While the body resembles the human and mortal, which is endlessly changing and can be broken down. Plato was not trying to suggest the soul was perfect as it joined the body which it is inhibited by, however, he explains that by taking care of the soul the person can develop knowledge. Plato used evidence such as the “world of the forms”. He suggested that by taking care of the soul and ignoring physical pleasures the soul can return to the word of the forms when the body dies. For the body to survive it must meet its basic needs such as food, reproduction and physical pleasure. On the other hand for the mind to be stimulated it has other needs that are met through deep thought and learning. However, there is a flaw to Plato’s theory, how can you have two completely different substances that are the same thing? Plato’s theory suggests the body and soul can work together to achieve a higher level of existence, but if the body and soul are completely different there is no evidence to suggest they would be compatible. Cartesian...
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