Individual identity is explained by evoking the soul, according to the oldest related concept, which is perhaps the most frequently accepted by ones who are not involved in the sphere of philosophy across the world. The soul may be considered a metaphysical, immaterial element of a human, according to this view. Here, immaterial refers to the fact that souls are not comprised of matter, and metaphysical refers to the fact that it cannot be discovered or examined by physics or any other scientific approach. Below, the essentials of the mentioned soul theory, as well as arguments in its favor, will be provided.
The soul is said to be the center of awareness, given that the conscious portion of individuals has consciousness and related experiences. However, it should be mentioned that the soul is never recognized in these experiences (214). While people are cognizant of many things, they are never aware of their souls. According to a plethora of soul theories, the soul is a part of an individual that thinks; therefore, it may be viewed as the piece that is sentient and assumed.
Within the scope of the theory, each regular live human organism is connected to a soul, and the latter is what defines self-identity under ordinary conditions. If a body at one time is interconnected with the same soul as a body later, the intricate comprising of the body and the soul at the earlier period is quantitatively similar to the complicated system of the body and the soul at the later time (215). They are the same person, regardless of how biologically similar or different their bodies are. However, if two bodies from separate eras are linked to separate souls, there are two people, not one.
At this point, it seems reasonable to explore the bible’s promises of rebirth. It is preassumed that not long before one dies, God makes an identical clone of your body in one of the possible circumstances. It might be argued that it is not so, according to the soul theory. The latter implies that if this copy body is aware and able to think, it should be connected to a soul (215). Moreover, while it can be related to a soul that looks a lot like ours, it is not our soul. One should not have the replica’s senses or sufferings. As a result, God’s creation is someone else.
The abovementioned aspects regarding the theory seem to be convincing and consistent; hence, the appropriacy of this concept is quite apparent. However, opponents may claim that there is an issue regarding what God might do to make good on the promises of rebirth on Judgment Day. A response can be as follows – God can build a live human body and link one’s soul to it, perhaps one that was relatively comparable to the body at some time in your existence. The final phase is vital for the soul theory – God must bind the soul to a new body if he wants to give a human life again many years after death. Thus, it is assumed that the soul is attached to a human body at the time of rebirth. However, this is not required; several Christian theologists believe that the soul will be connected to a spiritual world of some type. Many Hindus also suggest that once a body dies, its spirit is occasionally transferred to an animal’s body. Hence, whereas a human might reincarnate in a human form, they might also reincarnate as a goat or a bug.
In conclusion, it would be reasonable to state that the soul theory that was explored above can be considered significant and coherent. The concept of the soul itself – the core of this theory – was defined and elaborated. Arguments in favor of the described theoretical approach were provided as a response to possible claims of the opponents criticizing this concept.
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