Are humans animals? Do animals have souls?

[Imperial Nilfgaard]

Humans are animals that have achieved sapience. We are self aware and thus have different souls than other animals.

When a human dies their soul is recycled and reincarnated into a new sapient creature (maybe human) after having its memory wiped. There is a celestial soul bank where all sapient souls are stored and wiped before being sent to a new creature being born anywhere in the universe. More souls can be created if there is a population growth amongst the sapients. If there is a decline than souls can be merged or kept in storage indefinitely.

Other animals simply reincarnate souls amongst themselves.

For some reason I thought you were going to go on about that Great Soul business.

Well thats related. Because at the very top level of this hierarchy are the Great Souls. They are the apex of the sapient level, which is above multiple levels of animal souls.

This is how the Cosmic Soul Bank divides the living universe.

[MERIZoC]

Which is obvious bullshit considering we've OBSERVED certain other species having a clear understanding of death, to the point where they even mourn it.

They can understand death but still don't know they themselves will die.

They cannot deduce that they will die, even if they witness something else die.They just think it is a sad random event.

You're gonna need to source that. To say they understand the concept of death but not know they can experience it is a pretty apocryphal claim.

[Imperial Nilfgaard]

They can understand death but still don't know they themselves will die.

They cannot deduce that they will die, even if they witness something else die.They just think it is a sad random event.

You're gonna need to source that. To say they understand the concept of death but not know they can experience it is a pretty apocryphal claim.

Here is a list of animals that have passed the mirror test. If anything is aware of the concept of death it is them.
http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/ ... eness.html

But even then, if they do know about death they are still a far cry from reaching the human soul level.

[Mavorpen]

You're gonna need to source that. To say they understand the concept of death but not know they can experience it is a pretty apocryphal claim.

Here is a list of animals that have passed the mirror test. If anything is aware of the concept of death it is them.
http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/ ... eness.html

No. No one should rely solely on the mirror test, as it is grossly inaccurate for species that do not rely on sight. It gives plenty of false negatives.

But even then, if they do know about death they are still a far cry from reaching the human soul level.

I don't think they'd want to go down to our level.

[MERIZoC]

You're gonna need to source that. To say they understand the concept of death but not know they can experience it is a pretty apocryphal claim.

Here is a list of animals that have passed the mirror test. If anything is aware of the concept of death it is them.
http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/ ... eness.html

But even then, if they do know about death they are still a far cry from reaching the human soul level.

Why does one have to be able to recognize oneself in a mirror in order to be considered self-aware? Someone who has never seen a picture of themselves before couldn't recognize themselves in a mirror. Why are animals any different?

What on earth does a soul level mean?

[Imperial Nilfgaard]

Here is a list of animals that have passed the mirror test. If anything is aware of the concept of death it is them.
http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/ ... eness.html

No. No one should rely solely on the mirror test, as it is grossly inaccurate for species that do not rely on sight. It gives plenty of false negatives.

But even then, if they do know about death they are still a far cry from reaching the human soul level.

I don't think they'd want to go down to our level.

DOWN?!

That sounds like something an anarchy-primitivist would say.. you cannot say that humans are lower when have sent ourselves into space, when we have extended our natural lifespan by decades and when we have expanded ourselves onto every continent except Antarctica (for now).

Darwin would be proud.

[Mavorpen]

That sounds like something an anarchy-primitivist would say..

That's nice.

you cannot say that humans are lower when have sent ourselves into space, when we have extended our natural lifespan by decades and when we have expanded ourselves onto every continent except Antarctica (for now).

Of course I can. And I just did.

Darwin would be proud.

What does Darwin have to do with anything?

[Vestr-Norig]

From a purely biological perspective, it could be said that humans are but mere animals. Taking superior intelligence as something that distinguish us from other animals, and from that categorize us into another group than the entirety of the living world, seems, to me, far-out. When in the evolutionary stage did we cease to be animals? And then again, what gives us the right to distinguish us from animals in such a way?

Yet, there are still certain traits, both pysical and mental, that could be argued to place us higher than other animals. One, as claimed, is the soul, as presented in many religions, among them Christianity. Humans are created and placed on earth to rule over the earthly world, thus placing us above other animals. A soul is theologically speaking, at least in Christianity, something that is restricted to humans. As such, it may also be possible to define the term "animal" simply as a living creature that does not have a soul (then naturally excluding plants, cells, bacterias, etc), as in comparison to humans. Which, by that definition, would not make us animals. Giving the term Human traits such as superior intelligence, compassion, reason, self-aweareness, etc, to distinguish us from animals, would, though some of these traits may encompass certain animals, do exactly that, merely because we have made it so. It mostly is a question of definition, really.

[Imperial Nilfgaard]

Deleted.

[Imperial Nilfgaard]

That sounds like something an anarchy-primitivist would say..

That's nice.

you cannot say that humans are lower when have sent ourselves into space, when we have extended our natural lifespan by decades and when we have expanded ourselves onto every continent except Antarctica (for now).

Of course I can. And I just did.

Darwin would be proud.

What does Darwin have to do with anything?

Darwin has shown that animals evolve so that they can thrive. We have thrived, thus he'd be proud.

As for the other stuff. If you really believe that all of those things I listed are bad, then why are you still using a computer or the internet? If you think scientific progress is bad then at least practice what you preach.

[Mavorpen]

Darwin has shown that animals evolve so that they can thrive. We have thrived, thus he'd be proud.

No he didn't. He couldn't care less about "thriving." It's simply about the survival of genes, and if that means a species not surviving, then they won't thrive.

As for the other stuff. If you really believe that all of those things I listed are bad, then why are you still using a computer or the internet? If scientific progress is bad then at least practice what you preach.

So you've just skipped ahead to making shit up and pretending that I believe them.

Yeah, we're done here.

[Shaggai]

That's nice.

Of course I can. And I just did.

What does Darwin have to do with anything?

Darwin has shown that animals evolve so that they can thrive. We have thrived, thus he'd be proud.

As for the other stuff. If you really believe that all of those things I listed are bad, then why are you still using a computer or the internet? If you think scientific progress is bad then at least practice what you preach.

Evolution doesn't happen for a purpose. It's selection bias, applied to countless tiny changes over millennia. It's the mindless mind of Azathoth, to the greatest extent you'll find in this universe.

[MERIZoC]

Darwin has shown that animals evolve so that they can thrive. We have thrived, thus he'd be proud.

As for the other stuff. If you really believe that all of those things I listed are bad, then why are you still using a computer or the internet? If you think scientific progress is bad then at least practice what you preach.

Evolution doesn't happen for a purpose. It's selection bias, applied to countless tiny changes over millennia. It's the mindless mind of Azathoth, to the greatest extent you'll find in this universe.

Well, the "purpose" of it would be to allow for the survival of certain alleles, if you'll allow me some liberty with the word.

[Shaggai]

Evolution doesn't happen for a purpose. It's selection bias, applied to countless tiny changes over millennia. It's the mindless mind of Azathoth, to the greatest extent you'll find in this universe.

Well, the "purpose" of it would be to allow for the survival of certain alleles, if you'll allow me some liberty with the word.

That's a lot of liberty.

[MERIZoC]

Well, the "purpose" of it would be to allow for the survival of certain alleles, if you'll allow me some liberty with the word.

That's a lot of liberty.

I won't dispute that.

[Cyeal]

Are humans animals? Do animals have souls?

No such thing as souls bruh

Proof?

[MERIZoC]

No such thing as souls bruh

Proof?

One can not disprove something that has not been proven. The burden of proof is on the one making the claim that souls exist.

[Mavorpen]

No such thing as souls bruh

Proof?

He does not need to prove the null hypothesis.

[Seshephe]

Funny enough scripture disagrees.

My response:

Actually scripture teaches that animals have a spirit - the breath of life - but humans are the ones who rule the earth and the animals. Animals are ignorant and do not have a soul (there is a difference between the soul of a human and the non-soul life of an animal).

At any rate, do you think animals have souls? Are humans animals?

The fact that any answer to this question* is going to be something you just made up yourself is pretty interesting. I know when I was Christian I would have thought something like "I'd prefer to think that they do so therefore I'm going to say that they do."

* (apart from "I don't know" or "souls probably don't exist")

[Utceforp]

No such thing as souls bruh

Proof?

If that's the logic you're using, prove that there isn't an invisible unicorn flying through the sky above you.

[The United Colonies of Earth]

Yeah, we're animals. But no animal's identity is separate from its' physical being. When it dies, its' soul is gone with it.

[Neutraligon]

What is a soul?

[Imperial Nilfgaard]

Here is a list of animals that have passed the mirror test. If anything is aware of the concept of death it is them.
http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/ ... eness.html

But even then, if they do know about death they are still a far cry from reaching the human soul level.

Why does one have to be able to recognize oneself in a mirror in order to be considered self-aware? Someone who has never seen a picture of themselves before couldn't recognize themselves in a mirror. Why are animals any different?

What on earth does a soul level mean?

Soul level is how the universe defines and categorizes life. Depending on which soul level you have, you are reincarnated differently.

For more information on reincarnation: please see this http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic ... 0&t=236533.

[Hugohk]

Animals do not have souls, but then again neither do humans.

[Benuty]

What is a soul?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzxkoAFTf-4
Here .