A Round of Applause for Plant and Animal Souls - Page 4

To Descartes, an animal that had even the simplest of thought processes would have to have an immortal soul ("Animal Soul," Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 1967). Why? He believed that the psychology of his time combined both a psychological and a theological concept of immortal soul which could never be separated. They were one and the same. To claim an animal had a soul was an untenable position within Catholic dogma. Descartes felt it improper to believe animals have souls like humans; if that is so, he believed that man would have nothing different to hope for in an afterlife than the insects of the Earth have.”

Modern Science’s Animal Soul
Today, it would seem that science views the idea of any soul or principle of life — whether human or animal or plant — as sheer religious or philosophical nonsense. Differences between the intelligence and reasoning abilities of animals and humans, is seen as a matter of degree. It is well known that scientists who have worked with chimps have been able to teach these animals a multitude of signs which they use for communication.

Recently, I attended a fascinating lecture given by Jane Goodall (March 25, 2009) who spent over forty years studying chimpanzee behavior in the Gombe Game Reserve in Africa. After her talk, she answered many questions. When asked about chimpanzee intelligence and behavior, she acknowledged that chimps’ behaviors are extremely complex. They are capable of maintaining emotional relationships and can make use of tools. However, she stated that they should not be kept as pets and that humans should never forget that they are wild animals.

At the human level, MRI scans have localized portions of the human brain that seem to become activated when various types of thinking takes place, especially emotions. Thus, modern reductionistic thinking suggests it is only a matter of time with the proper sophisticated equipment, that what used to be considered as a principle of life or soul will ultimately be traced to activity within the grey wrinkled brain inside the skull. Here, it is believed that the neurons, both as single cells and as independent networks of cells, work together to produce all the higher functions that people typically refer to as the mind or the soul (Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul, Francis Crick, 1994).

On a much more personal level, scientist Warren Brown upholds a theory of "Nonreductive Physicalism and Soul" (American Behavioral Scientist, 2002) that abandons both the body-soul dualism of theological anthropology along with absolute reductionism of modern science. Brown argues that many of the traditional capacities that once were assigned to the soul such as human nature and human experience are now seen as emergent functions of the brain; for example, qualities such as emotion, morality, free will, reasoning, spirituality.

Article Author: Regis Schilken

Regis Schilken's stories reflect his search for meaning in a very human but frightening way. Two of his books have been published: The Oculi Incident and The Island Off Stony Point. A third, You Know When will be published this year. …

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