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Do animals have souls?

Yeah, but that doesn't give them a soul. It means they have a brain, which is perfectly obvious once you cut open the carcass of a dead gorilla.
 
Well, the original poster said:
"For those of you who actually believe in Eternal Salvation, do animals have immortal souls like humans?

And if no, why not?

Or for those of you who would rather stay away from religious discussion, can animals create new ideas/concepts/things?"

Since I don't believe in any gods that would favour humans, I choose the second option. o_O
 
Why wouldn't they? At our core, we ourselves are just highly intelligent animals. Is te possession of a soul determined by sentience? Wouldn't all living things in nature be worthy of an everlasting life force? But, I dunno. Just throwing it out there.
 
EmeraldCityBlues said:
Why wouldn't they? At our core, we ourselves are just highly intelligent animals. Is te possession of a soul determined by sentience? Wouldn't all living things in nature be worthy of an everlasting life force? But, I dunno. Just throwing it out there.
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What the fuck is an 'everlasting life force'? You're just throwing around needless pretense and terms without zero substantiation. I don't even know what a "life force" is supposed to be.
 
i don't believe in souls in the first place, but if they do exist and people do have them then i think animals do too
 
What is a soul anyway?

I don't think we can get any debate done if we don't settle this first.

And don't give me answers like "an everlasting life-force" or "a spirit" because that explains nothing.
 
Zackrinian said:
I feel a soul is a thing created by humans, because we needed something to look forward to after death when we created religion. Do animals have souls? No. Do animals have religion? No. The the showing of feelings, and spirits can be seen as a behavioral pattern, for the lack of a better thought. Animals can be depressing, or very silly. But it's not like they're trying to be. Most wild animals don't feel. That's how we define having a soul. The abilities to love, hate, be happy, and feel sadness. Feelings are the key to the definition of a soul. We have bred some animals into a false sense of having a soul, like dogs that save their owners. We perceive this to be love, but really it doesn't know any better way to get food. dogs used to be able to hunt for themselves, and some still can. Most however, have been formed to what we see fit. Most house cats are similar. Don't try to bring home a leopard and expect it to eat the food out of the bowl you set out for it. It would likely maul you first, because you look similar to a food source it is used to.

And that's my take, for the most part. If I think of something else, I'll edit.
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Whoo how did I miss this? Where to start...

The first part is fine, I suppose, as long as what you're trying to say is that a soul is a creation of the human mind and only exists in the sense that unicorns exist. However, you don't have proof that animals don't have religion, but since nobody has proof for either side, we really can't use this as an argument.

You are defining a "soul" as the ability to feel emotions. Besides the fact that you just contradicted your first point, by this definition, most animals have souls: most animals can feel fear. Fear is a useful feeling to have, survival -- it tells the animals to get the heck out of there before said animals get eaten.

You can't exactly define a (human) mom saving her child as "love" either. As the child (most probably) contains some of the mother's genes, it is more beneficial for the mother's genes to have something in it that says "go save your child if it is dying", since the child has a greater chance of passing on the genes than the old adult. As with the dog saving its owner, this definition of "love" is basically selfishness.

Actually, if the food in a bowl is raw meat, then I think the leopard would rather eat the safe food than risk itself by fighting you. Then again, the leopard would probably be too freaked out by the fact that it's in a small, confined space outside of its territory to eat anything.
 
I don't completely disagree with you there, just the food bit.

I was talking to a falconer once, and she told me that when she got her first bird, she tried to feed it mouse bits, but with no avail. One day, she tried feeding it a whole mouse, and it basically ate it out of the palm of her hand. Now yes, the leopard would probably go towards the easiest food source, but only if it recognizes it. This wild cat may have seen humans before, so there would be a chance that it would try to eat you before it went to the raw meat slab, only because it doesn't know what it is, precisely. It definitely would recognize the smell, but other than that, it's probably not worth it's time and energy. If you slapped a dead gazelle on the floor, however, the leopard would probably have a field day with it. (Leopards might not eat gazelle, however-I'm not thinking the straightest I can right now)
 
Animals have souls. After all, they care about particular things.
Look at birds, parrots mainly. They preen to show their affection, so they of course have friendly sides.

Though my cockatiels, Isis and Freya, both female, Freya being silver, are a bit odd. Isis torments Freya when Freya tries to get to her food, and yet they sometimes preen eachother. What the hell.

If you count feelings like love and hatred as having a soul, then yes, animals have souls.
 
Altair66 said:
Do we really know the qualities of a soul to differ weather they has a soul or not? I think animals Have a soul becouse theres so much personality difference and intelligence to some animals. I doubt its just basic instinct
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... someone decode this post
 
Can animals create new concepts and ideas? Of course they can. Here are we humans as a living testament to the higher order thinking of mammals. It's not such a stretch to say that the cognitive similarities in dolphins, apes and other such higher order mammals imply that they can too.

As for the immortal soul, I can't say it's something I care to consider.
 
It really depends on what you mean by 'soul'.

It's still a pretty abstract concept anyway, so there's really no definitive answer.
 
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