Debate on the conception of the soul dates back to ancient Greek mythology. Many authors from the Greco-Roman tradition, the Abrahamic tradition, and the East Asian tradition posit similar but different views on the ideal conception of the soul. This essay discusses five conceptions from these three traditions: two from the Greco-Roman tradition, two from the East Asian tradition, and one from the Abrahamic tradition. It concludes by looking at their similarities and differences and which of these conceptions is the most persuasive.
The Greco-Roman tradition was polytheistic, believing in many gods, so its concept of the soul varied and evolved. Plato held that a man’s soul existed alongside the body (Plato 9). He also believed that the soul continued to live and could think after the body’s death. On the contrary, Lucius Annaeus Seneca, a Roman dramatist, statesman, and philosopher, held a Stoic view the soul was the body (Radice 102). The soul, therefore, meant freedom, or the ability of the human body to wander free and far.
The Abrahamic tradition held a similar view about the conception of the soul. The tradition comprised a group of monotheistic religions that endorsed the worship of Abraham, such as Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. St. Augustine, a Christian, viewed the body and the soul as separate bodies created by God, and it was impossible to conceive a soul without a human body. He also held that the soul continued to live after the death of the physical body.
The East Asia tradition differed from the Greco-Roman and Abrahamic traditions. The modern traditions of East Asia include Shinto, Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Confucius, a Chinese philosopher, held that the soul originates from the spirits of dead people and continues to live after the body’s death (Chin 197). Lao Tzu, a Chinese philosopher, believed that one’s soul survived death to become immortal (Muller 144). Confucius and Lao Tzu hold we must focus on everyday life because little is known about the afterlife.
The three traditions share a common belief that the soul becomes present in humans when life begins and immortal when the body dies. In Greco-Roman tradition, the soul is conceived with the body, while God creates the soul in Abrahamic tradition. In the East Asia tradition, the soul originates from dead people’s spirits. I believe the Abrahamic tradition is the most persuasive because its beliefs unify most people across the universe.
Works Cited
Chin, Annping. The Analects. Penguin UK, 2007.
Muller, Charles. Lao-Tzu and the Tao-Te-Ching. Barnes & Noble Classics. 1998.
Plato. Plato’s The Republic. New York: Books, Inc., 1943.
Radice, Betty. The letters of the younger Pliny. Penguin UK, 2003.