What is a "soul"?

Originally posted by lucifershammer
St. Thomas Aquinas.

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
I hear a lot of talk about the "soul" but I still don't understand what it is supposed to be. Is it distinct from the "spirit", whatever that is, and the mind? Are spirit and mind distinct from one another?

Originally posted by cavan
are mind, spirit and sole the same thing?

oops, i mean soul. you knew that. mayby i'll have fish for dinner!

http://www.newadvent.org/summa/107500.htm

St. Thomas Aquinas on the human soul.

"To seek the nature of the soul, we must premise that the soul is defined as the first principle of life of those things which live: for we call living things "animate," [i.e. having a soul], and those things which have no life, "inanimate." Now life is shown principally by two actions, knowledge and movement. The philosophers of old, not being able to rise above their imagination, supposed that the principle of these actions was something corporeal: for they asserted that only bodies were real things; and that what is not corporeal is nothing: hence they maintained that the soul is something corporeal. This opinion can be proved to be false in many ways; but we shall make use of only one proof, based on universal and certain principles, which shows clearly that the soul is not a body.

It is manifest that not every principle of vital action is a soul, for then the eye would be a soul, as it is a principle of vision; and the same might be applied to the other instruments of the soul: but it is the "first" principle of life, which we call the soul. Now, though a body may be a principle of life, or to be a living thing, as the heart is a principle of life in an animal, yet nothing corporeal can be the first principle of life. For it is clear that to be a principle of life, or to be a living thing, does not belong to a body as such; since, if that were the case, every body would be a living thing, or a principle of life. Therefore a body is competent to be a living thing or even a principle of life, as "such" a body. Now that it is actually such a body, it owes to some principle which is called its act. Therefore the soul, which is the first principle of life, is not a body, but the act of a body; thus heat, which is the principle of calefaction, is not a body, but an act of a body."

I'll post Kreeft's commentary on this section (from the "Summa of the Summa" ) once I get home.

EDIT: I hate it when " ) comes out as "😉

Well a 'Soul' is David's surname.

Have you never heard of David Soul? Used to be in a American cop show entitled Starsky and Hutch I believe.

Originally posted by TheSphinx
Well a 'Soul' is David's surname.

Have you never heard of David Soul? Used to be in a American cop show entitled Starsky and Hutch I believe.

These 5 proofs are complete bull. Take a math or logic class to learn a thing or two about proving something. First, ever heard of the Big Bang theory or forces of nature like gravity, electromagnetic, and the strong and weak forces.

The fact that we can judge things to be more perfect than others doesnt mean there is such a thing as absolute perfection. Each person has there own Idea of what is the perfect job, perfect dog, perfect belief system, perfect mate. It's all relative there isn't an absolute perfect and that CAN be proven. And even if there was, which, you know, there isn't, it wouldn't prove anything about god one way or another.

Ever read anything about the "Blind Watchmaker" concept. This explains the complexity of the natural world perfectly.

Originally posted by UmbrageOfSnow
These 5 proofs are complete bull. Take a math or logic class to learn a thing or two about proving something. First, ever heard of the Big Bang theory or forces of nature like gravity, electromagnetic, and the strong and weak forces.

The fact that we can judge things to be more perfect than others doesnt mean there is such a thing as absolute p ...[text shortened]... the "Blind Watchmaker" concept. This explains the complexity of the natural world perfectly.

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
Which 5 proofs are you referring to?

Originally posted by checkbaiter
Yes, that was a good ol' show!😉

Originally posted by TheSphinx
Sometimes these boards get a little too deep.

😀

Originally posted by vistesd
I think the ones referred to by checkbaiter in the above post with this link:

http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/3n.htm#basic

Originally posted by vistesd
I think the ones referred to by checkbaiter in the above post with this link:

http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/3n.htm#basic

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
I hear a lot of talk about the "soul" but I still don't understand what it is supposed to be. Is it distinct from the "spirit", whatever that is, and the mind? Are spirit and mind distinct from one another?

Originally posted by gambit3
As I understand it the soul is the union of the spirit and the body. The mind and the spirit are the same thing?