In response to the long-standing philosophical question of immorality, many philosophers have posited the soul criterion, which asserts the soul constitutes personal identity and survives physical death. In The Myth of the Soul, Clarence Darrow rejects the existence of the soul in his case against the notion of immortality and an afterlife. His primary argument against the soul criterion is that no good explanation exists for how a soul enters a body, or when its beginning might occur. (Darrow 43) After first explicating Darrow 's view, I will present what I believe is its greatest shortcoming, an inconsistent use of the term soul, and argue that this weakness impacts the overall strength of his argument.
True religion, for Emerson, appears to be narcissistic and egotistical and can be defined as promoting and being consumed by the deity of one’s self, yet, contradictorily, Emerson claimed that as one trusts and worships in themselves, they gain a renewed confidence in other men. The opposite often occurs and the selfish nature Emerson so boldly praised manifests itself when one chooses to focus primarily on themselves rather than Christ. Throughout “The Divinity School Address,” Emerson attempted to justify why the human soul should regard itself as its own god by arguing the “indisputable” power of the soul and its ability to determine everything, such as where it will go after death as Emerson believed nothing about the soul was predetermined. Although Emerson was, to some extent, correct about free will, he misrepresented what little power the soul truly has by implying that, ultimately, the soul, not God, holds, in itself, the power to determine its place in the afterlife. Furthermore, Emerson misuses this as “proof” of why the soul is all-powerful and should be worshipped.
When decide to awaken our inner fire when we become increasingly aware of both a sense that life has a meaning and our burning purpose here on earth. To put it differently, this is when we allow the soul to be the guide
As Foucault writes in the Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison: “But let there be no misunderstanding: it is not that a real man, the object of knowledge, philosophical reflection or technological intervention, has been substituted for the soul, the illusion of theologians. The man described for us, whom we are invited to free, is already in himself the effect of a subjection more profound than himself. A 'soul' inhabits him and brings him to existence, which is itself a factor in the mastery that power exercises over the body. The soul is the effect
It is important for the body to feel pain because nerve cells let out pain signals to indicate something is wrong. It is also important for the body to feel emotions so the person can feel the tendencies to run for their life or a sense of importance. As a result, these physical qualities of the body can allow unhappiness when one feels too much pain that is unbearable, or when one cannot sleep because they are too stressed. The second way the body brings unhappiness is through the sense of beauty, where “beauty presents itself to [people’s] sense and [peoples] judgment” (Freud 53). People’s sense of beauty to themselves or others is perceived through their own
To further understand how to deal with suffering, one must explore suffering’s origin and what it means to suffer. What is suffering then? “Simply stated, suffering is anything which hurts or irritates” and “covers a wide spectrum; it can be pain or grief even emotional pain on a personal level”
His reasoning to his attempts wasn’t just the war ,but also a divorce which deeply impacted him and a family which was once loving and peaceful; now torn apart by alcohol. Overall the wr had changed him, a man who was a perfectly normal productive member of society, now suffering side effects from the war. Another individual John F. Ferguson , Vietnam veteran who served from 1967- 1971 in the 15th counter intelligence team. Ferguson one of many vietnam veterans describes his war experience to have been physically exhausting and terrifying business.
And because a soul does not have these characteristics, there is doubt on how it can be considered a person. Rowe also brings up the issue with “something being the same person”, where he points out that there is no evidence to prove this. Philosophers have no way of accepting this until it is proven
In this two Christian philosophers, Richard Swinburne and Tim O'Connor, discussed the concept of neuroscience and the soul. The first philosopher, Swinburne, believed in the idea of substance dualism while O’Conner supported the argument for emergent individualism. Swinburne starts off by saying one’s physical body is simply the vehicle we interact with the world while the real essence of a person lies within their soul. When it comes to Swinburne’s belief on the soul after death I am reminded of Phaedo and how death will only bring about separation of body and soul.
Both of these plights without the human spirit leaving valid humans rendered hopeless through their complications. “There is no gene for the human spirit.” The human spirit is expressed to be practically the most important human trait by Niccol within the
Reason is the part that guides the other parts of the soul, it analysis and rationalizes options, and determines the best overall choice. Spirit is the part that is passionate and strives to conquer challenges, while appetite is the part that desires pleasures and comforts. Plato states that all three parts are balanced properly when reason the one in charge, but when poorly balanced, virtue is lost and vices begin to form. Ignorance is a vice. In Philabus, Plato states that when harmony of the soul is disrupted, one becomes self-ignorant, and can acquire a false sense of beauty, wealth, and virtue.
Life should be lived to its fullest potential. There are so many joyful experiences in life as well as many sad ones. In Brian Doyle’s Joyas Volardores, Doyle explains that humans instinctively attempt to block themselves from pain. But, he says that this is not how we should live.
He talks not only about his experiences but, also his platoon members experience. War degrades the lives of war and post-war soldiers by completely ripping them from their normal lives and into war. The Vietnam war derailed many lives, as people were forced into a foreign land to fight an unknown war. The 60’s were a changing time, young adults were looking to succeed and rebel the norms.
While this is a good thing that we don’t have conflicts where we need men to serve, the young men and women of this generation won’t ever understand the effects of combat related PTSD where the world of those affected with it “became a cacophony of nightmares, flashbacks, depression, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide” and the number of Vietnam Veterans left are slowly dwindling (Price). This photograph shows the remorse
This identification with others through compassion can lead to increased motivation to do something in an effort to relieve the suffering of others. Compassion is relational and so it is fundamental. The act with compassion is within the intersection of our own awareness of self, our awareness of other and our personal understanding of what it means to promote well being. All of this is composed of relationships and is named the Compassion Space ( Hoisington, W. David,