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RE: Could you still be an Atheist and believe in a "Soul"?
September 12, 2015 at 3:53 am
(This post was last modified: September 12, 2015 at 3:54 am by I_am_not_mafia.)
At one point in my life I believed in reincarnation but did not believe in a god. So the answer is yes.
I'd also like to point out the answers do not match the question. The question is whether it is possible whereas the answers are for whether we are currently atheists who believe in a soul.
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RE: Could you still be an Atheist and believe in a "Soul"?
September 12, 2015 at 6:13 pm
Considering that everything we know about physiology, biology and the brain flatly contradicts the idea of dualism (i.e. the idea that we have an animus which is separate from our material selves), believing in the existence of a soul is frankly preposterous. Hence my voting no.
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RE: Could you still be an Atheist and believe in a "Soul"?
September 12, 2015 at 6:23 pm
(September 12, 2015 at 6:13 pm)Constable Dorfl Wrote: Considering that everything we know about physiology, biology and the brain flatly contradicts the idea of dualism (i.e. the idea that we have an animus which is separate from our material selves), believing in the existence of a soul is frankly preposterous. But, I read the question not as whether is was preposterous, or logical, or anything like. But just whether you could believe in a soul and still be an atheist.
To me, that technically is, Yes.
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RE: Could you still be an Atheist and believe in a "Soul"?
September 13, 2015 at 12:05 pm
(September 12, 2015 at 6:23 pm)LostLocke Wrote: (September 12, 2015 at 6:13 pm)Constable Dorfl Wrote: Considering that everything we know about physiology, biology and the brain flatly contradicts the idea of dualism (i.e. the idea that we have an animus which is separate from our material selves), believing in the existence of a soul is frankly preposterous. But, I read the question not as whether is was preposterous, or logical, or anything like. But just whether you could believe in a soul and still be an atheist.
To me, that technically is, Yes.
True, but at the same time being an atheist removes the religious dogma aspect of the belief, which is frankly the only justifiable reason you'd believe in souls in the first place.
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RE: Could you still be an Atheist and believe in a "Soul"?
September 13, 2015 at 12:35 pm
It is completely possible to not believe in a supernatural creative agent and still believe in substance dualism. Do I? No. Is it possible? Yes.
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RE: Could you still be an Atheist and believe in a "Soul"?
September 13, 2015 at 5:03 pm
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RE: Could you still be an Atheist and believe in a "Soul"?
September 13, 2015 at 5:04 pm
Here is the Litmus Test:
If there was a "hell" or "heaven" then there is a soul.
Here is the experiment:
Ask God to show you where your relatives are especially relatives you have never met or seen.
My own personal results:
I have two relatives, grandparents I never met from my father side. I have yet to receive an answer from God(Jesus) concerning their fate. The only relatives I have dreams about are the ones I KNOW which means that my brain is simply remembering them and nothing new. The "dreams" of the ones I knew does not have "hell" or "heaven" in the dreams. In psychology, it is called FLASHBULB MEMORIES and AUTOMATIC ENCODING. There is also EPISODIC MEMORY.
The absence of an answer means???
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RE: Could you still be an Atheist and believe in a "Soul"?
September 13, 2015 at 5:08 pm
Humans are good at justifying just about any combination of positions.
I don't, doesn't mean somebody else couldn't.
Why not?
I reject your reality and substitute my own!
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RE: Could you still be an Atheist and believe in a "Soul"?
September 13, 2015 at 8:22 pm
(September 13, 2015 at 5:04 pm)CristW Wrote: Here is the Litmus Test:
If there was a "hell" or "heaven" then there is a soul.
Here is the experiment:
Ask God to show you where your relatives are especially relatives you have never met or seen.
My own personal results:
I have two relatives, grandparents I never met from my father side. I have yet to receive an answer from God(Jesus) concerning their fate. The only relatives I have dreams about are the ones I KNOW which means that my brain is simply remembering them and nothing new. The "dreams" of the ones I knew does not have "hell" or "heaven" in the dreams. In psychology, it is called FLASHBULB MEMORIES and AUTOMATIC ENCODING. There is also EPISODIC MEMORY.
The absence of an answer means???
The absence of an answer means there is no god.
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RE: Could you still be an Atheist and believe in a "Soul"?
September 29, 2015 at 5:43 pm
(This post was last modified: September 29, 2015 at 5:48 pm by mackpeterson.
Edit Reason: grammar
)
(September 10, 2015 at 11:32 pm)CristW Wrote: I really had to ask. This is truly a Litmus Test of whether someone is an Atheist. Let you all know there is a so-called "atheist" who truly believes that there is a "soul". I agree that if there is a "soul" then there is a Divine source (Plato/Socrates). However, as it has been proven...virtues do not derive from a "soul" so this destroys the Nihilist claim (The Plato argument concerning Gorgas' philosophical nihilism which has been converted into a modern social/political construct).
That's an interesting question. There is no belief system to which all atheists subscribe. I always understood atheism to be an acceptance of reality that does not include a god or gods. Those who do not believe in god(s) generally do not believe in other speculative supernatural phenomenon, and the existence of a "soul" would certainly fit into the realm of unfounded supernatural wishful thinking. But...
It is important to understand what you mean by soul. If you define it as the source of a human's virtue, then a soul could be correctly defined as the physical neurons where memory is stored working in conjunction with the uniquely evolved physical characteristics of our own brains and the way in which electro-chemical signals interact with these two variables. I suppose an atheist could believe in the remarkable nature of this phenomenon and call that "soul?"
I think what is being hinted at is concept of an "immortal soul" or a supernatural entity that somehow exists independent of the physical body. That's just silly. But I'm sure there are those who are of the opinion that there is no god but that there is something called a soul that they define personally. There may be people who accept the reality of there being no god but believe in the tooth fairy. Those are silly atheists.
I haven't read the whole thread, but I hope someone has pointed out that the original texts of both the Old and New Testament do not refer to an eternal soul. The word used in those books is soul meaning a unique individual, nothing mystical. As in "how many souls can you fit in this station wagon?" The word took on the more supernatural interpretation in Judeo-Christian thought only after being translated into Greek in the 3rd Century.
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