Talk:Soul/Archive 2

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Archive 1Archive 2

Text in lead

I recently removed the following passage from the lead:

Some belief systems (including the Abrahamic religions) argue that only human beings have souls and therefore that among the biological organisms of the Earth only they possess immortality and the possibility of union with the divine.[1] In contrast others (such as Jains) believe that all biological organisms have souls

My reasons for removing it can be found on this talk page.

Stevertigo has restored that passage to the lead, although he has marked it so that it is hidden to those who are viewing the article. More precisely, he has restored the following text:

belief systems (including the Abrahamic religions) argue that only human beings have souls and therefore that among the biological organisms of the Earth only they possess immortality and the possibility of union with the divine.[2] In contrast others (such as Jains) believe

I take it that Stevertigo restored this text because he was unsure whether it should be removed. I have no real problem with restoring the text, as long as it remains hidden. But I'm curious to know whether Stevertigo (or anyone else) has any particular reason for wanting to keep the text. I think the text makes an unsupportable and false generalization about "Abrahamic religions" and misrepresents Jainism. Again, my reasons can be found here. --Phatius McBluff (talk) 14:26, 1 June 2012 (UTC)

I think that the best way to resolve this would be to make sure that each section of the article makes it clear on who exactly believes what, so that generalizations and simplifications can be avoided and also the lead can improve. The recent distancing of WP Hinduism from this article has me wondering whether inviting some editors from all these projects to review or improve the corresponding sections would help the overall quality of the article. I consider the Hinduism issue especially important, as the ancient Greek philosophers mentioned here took many of their ideas about ψυχή and πνεύμα straight from Hinduism. Hoverfish Talk 18:16, 1 June 2012 (UTC)

The lede as it stands refers too much to animist concepts and doesn't mention Abrahamic faiths as it should. According to the Abrahamic religions, animals don't have souls in the sense that humans to, and certainly no inanimate objects have souls. I will leave it to Phatius to accurately represent the view of Jains. Regards, -Stevertigo (t | c) 02:43, 5 June 2012 (UTC)
I still think the lede's statement about "Abrahamic religions" should be qualified somewhat. Perhaps we could say "some Abrahamic religions" or "only human beings have immortal souls". It is quite common to see Christian writers describe animals as having souls: --Phatius McBluff (talk) 13:16, 18 June 2012 (UTC)

There is the popular saying in (Orthodox Christian) Greece: "Don't hurt the animals, because they too have souls". It is also used by the clergy especially as a counsel to children. So even if Christian dogma has it that animals do not have immortal souls they are still said to have "souls" by the clergy. Hoverfish Talk 19:40, 18 June 2012 (UTC)

Agreed. I will be bold and change the wording in the lede to "Some religions (including the Abrahamic religions) teach that only human beings have immortal souls". --Phatius McBluff (talk) 15:28, 20 June 2012 (UTC)

This new trivia section could become an endless list. The selection here presented expresses a very limited view. Obviously the user who started it likes gothic, but depending on user preferences it can extend to a huge area of literature, cinema and other arts where "soul" is mentioned as an important issue. Can it be limited in scope somehow? Hoverfish Talk 10:25, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, the concept of an IPC section for this topic borders on the farcical. I'm just going to delete it, and any explanations of why it's not utterly ridiculous to have one can go here. —chaos5023 (talk) 17:09, 13 July 2012 (UTC)
I can't see how it could be limited in scope, I think removal is the best option. IRWolfie- (talk) 18:14, 13 July 2012 (UTC)

This article has been revised as part of a large-scale clean-up project of multiple article copyright infringement. (See the investigation subpage) Earlier text must not be restored, unless it can be verified to be free of infringement. For legal reasons, Wikipedia cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or printed material; such additions must be deleted. Contributors may use sources as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences or phrases. Accordingly, the material may be rewritten, but only if it does not infringe on the copyright of the original or plagiarize from that source. Please see our guideline on non-free text for how to properly implement limited quotations of copyrighted text. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously. IRWolfie- (talk) 21:48, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

Change to 'Soul'

Hi Gareth,

Thanks for your note - the change is actually crucial, there is no mention of the soul in the Old Testament / Torah and so any discussion of the Hebrew terms must make it clear that the words translated into the word 'soul' in English do not mean 'soul'. The 'soul' was a Greek concept added to Christianity & Judaism after 300AD. Let me know if you need more detail.

My best,

Dan — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.147.210.139 (talk) 09:40, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

Good morning, Thank you Dan for your kind explanation on my Talk page this morning.
I have restored your revision. Please leave a note when you see this to let me know.
Sincerely,  
  Gareth Griffith-Jones/The Welsh Buzzard 10:19, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
Received - many thanks Gareth.
My best,
Dan — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.147.210.139 (talk) 10:36, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
Thank you! I shall copy this to the article Talk page to back up our editing. 
  Gareth Griffith-Jones/The Welsh Buzzard 10:54, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

Category:Fictional soulless, Category:Fictional characters who absorb souls, Category:Artificial souls in fiction

I believe these categories to have enough examples that they would be valid. Bleach (manga), Soul Caliber, Final Fantasy VII, Legacy of Kain, Ghost Rider, Spawn. Ryulong is reverting all of my edits. CensoredScribe (talk) 22:53, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

See WP:ANI#CensoredScribe's categories on discussion on how CensoredScribe is inappropriately making dozens of categories of questionable quality. CensoredScribe, this is not the page to make this sort of discussion, either.—Ryūlóng (琉竜) 15:48, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

Merge with Spirit?

They mean the same thing so, merge?  Preceding unsigned comment added by Bozo33 (talkcontribs) 21:47, 24 October 2014 (UTC)

Further revision required

Soul Revolution

Development and composition of the soul.

etymology of word soul

Fixed grammer. Citation needed

Souls are not necessarily immortal, I am changing the first sentence

The Problem of Induction - Deniers of the soul are subject to the Problem of Induction

False Equivalence

"Psyche" and Other Etymologically-Unrelated Words Should Be Moved To "Synonyms"

Immortality is not a necessary characteristic of “soul”

Stevenson reincarnation research

Content fork

It is likely the Self was mistaken for the Soul

make paragraphs

Abrahamic religions hate fuzzy wuzzy animals?

A debate about animal souls

You are the soul.

Inconsistent English transliteration of ψυχή: psykhḗ, psūchê, psyche

Removed Hillman

Buddhism section

"Science" section

Can Wikipedia help me publish this content on Soul?

Red-figure vase with illustration of Charon

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