Posted on 11/05/2005 4:49:35 AM PST by Momaw Nadon
Here is a good article on Aristotle.
Aristotle also believed the sole died with the body.
http://www.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/etext/aatcc12.htm
I'm not sure about Aristotle postulating a Universal Mind consciously operating in all living things. That would be, it seems to me, a form of pantheism (or at least panentheism)--- and a serious error. But he did distinguish between that which merely lives and grows, that which lives and senses, and that which lives, reasons and chooses.
You can rightly say that everything the pagan philosophers taught must be examined critically, but not everything they taught is wrong. Some of them made good use of that intellective faculty by which we know true things, even about God. For instnance, there are non-Christian philosophers who will argue that the rational soul is immortal.
And the honest intellect can reason that the Universe was created by a Supreme Being of surpassing knowledge and power. That's a truth worth having, found even amongst the pagans.
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Every speck of everything in existence has a soul; i.e. a trackable history of it's insignificant uniqueness.
That is my opinion, and nothing more.
I agree with that.
Brother Astronomer:
Adventures of a Vatican Scientist
by Guy J. ConsolmagnoTurn Left at Orion:
A Hundred Night Sky Objects
to See in a Small Telescope
and How to Find Them
by Guy J. Consolmagno,
and Dan M. Davis,
with Karen Kotash Sepp,
Anne Drogin,
and Mary Lynn SkirvinThe Way to the Dwelling of Light
by Guy J. ConsolmagnoWorlds Apart:
A Textbook in Planetary Sciences
by Guy J. Consolmagno
and Martha Schaefer
God is everywhere!!
Is he speaking of the microbes or of the equivalent human life?
One would not. The other likely would.
Inquiring minds can check Jesuit's book
Or just spend thirty seconds thinking about it and save your 20 bucks.
Years ago, there was a story about a guy who wanted to prove souls existed. He put dying patients' beds on a scale and determined that upon death the bed, including it's occupant, weighed a few ounces less. He did the same with dogs, but don't remember what that result was.
It may be a translation issue here. The Biblical Hebrew word for spirit is ruah, meaning wind, breath, inspiration; the noun is grammatically feminine. Every being that has breath has ruah.
That does not, however, imply an immortal soul. "Thou takest their breath from them, and they die..." says Scripture.
The Greek New Testament uses four different words: Psyche, originally meaning butterfly or moth, later expanded to mean life, soul, ghost, departed spirit. Thymos, meaning breath, life, soul, temper, courage, will. Pneuma, meaning breath, mind, spirit, angel. Noös, meaning mind, reason, intellect.
That's why simple proof-texting doesn't work here. You have to dig to get the author's exact usage of the word, before you make any comparison between texts.
Dogs in heaven? I always told my kids that they will have perfect bliss in heaven. If (IF!!) they need their dog there for them to have perfect bliss, the dog'll be there. If...
My dogs exhibit some very human emotions, joy, grief, loyalty, love, fear, confidence, anger, guilt, etc. And they are able to make choices.
One wonders if there might be other intelligences, perhaps alien, that are to us as we are to our dogs.
I think that's possible. There's certainly no way to rule it out at this point.
Angelic intelligence might be an example of it. There are "myriads" (billions?) of angels of different sorts ---archangels, seraphim, etc.--- and their powers of reason and of will are superior to ours.
I saw a Far Side cartoon once captioned "Man comes to understand dog language." There's a whole neighborhood full of dogs going, Bark! Arf! Grr! Woof! Yip! ...and other doggy "words." And the translation is: "Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!"
If I saw a space allen I would want to shoot it and eat it before it could eat me.
This is a test which might fruitfully be used on our own species to determine which among us is truly human.
Problem is, in the wrong hands (and what other hands are available here?) it could be (and almost certainly would be) used for evil!
No. Whaling has been banned by the International Law of the Sea. For all intents and porpoises.
Aarrrgghh! Both funny and terrible at the same time! This proves that you have a soul!
And the fact that I can see this proves that I do, too!
Well, that's two of us here! Anybody else?
Howcome you jumped into this discussion almost 6 years later?
You time-traveling, or what?
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