14. The human soul


  1. Existence and faculties of the soul

   It is said by some philosophers: “Everything that is has a reason. There is no cause without effect”.

   We know that there are psychic movements, as knowedge, feelings, tendencies and superior movements which only take part in the human mind. These psychic facts must have a cause, a reason for their existence. The reason of these psychic phenomena is the soul. Our soul is what causes the superior psychic facts.

   The faculties of the soul are two: undertanding and will. To understand something is an act of reason, while the act of wanting something is an act of the faculy called will.

   Man does other acts, as remember, feel, see, listen, etc, but these acts don’t imply the existence of rational faculties. Therefore, soul’s attributes are knowledge and will.

  A. Answer with one of these letters: a, b, c. (If it turns red, the answer is correct)

  1. “There are no effect without cause” This is said by

    a. technicians
    b. religious men
    c. philosophers

  2. Superior psychic facts take part in

    a. humans
    b. animals
    c. both

 3. The cause for psychic phenomena is

    a. tendencies
    b. soul
    c. feelings

 4. The faculties of soul are

    a. two
    b. three
    c. four

 5. Understand and think is a faculty of the

    a. will
    b. knowledge
    c. feeling

 6. To want is a feature of the

    a. feeling
    b. knowledge
    c. will




  2. Attributes of the soul

   Our soul has qualities or properties which are called attributes. Human soul is essential, simple, spiritual and inmortal.

   a) Essential. It could realize different actions, it thinks, feels, wants or moves, but all of them are done by a single subject. These functions could change, but the subject is always the same. Man is conscious of being always the same, yesterday and tomorrow. What remains can only be explained if the soul is substantial. We can conclude saying that psychic phenomena are accidental (they change), while soul is substantial (it remains).

   b) Simplicity. The soul is simple, it has no different parts because psychic phenomena lack of quantity and area. Our body is composed of natural elements like carbon, sulphur, etc. The soul is simple, a substantial form whic joins a body to create a human being.

   c) Spirituality. Man makes spiritual acts, as abstract tought, aesthetic feelings, the intellectual ones or the moral and religious ones. The soul is the cause of these acts, and consequently it has to be spiritual.

  B. Answer with one of these letters: a, b or c.

  1. The attributes of the soul are

    a. three
    b. four
    c. five

  2. Different functions are realized by a

    a. subject
    b. organ
    c. phenomenon

 3. Subject remains, so it is

    a. accidental
    b. formal
    c. substantial

 4. Soul lacks of quantity and area, so it is

    a. simple
    b. substantial
    c. spiritual

 5. The soul joins the body to conform a ... being

    a. accidental
    b. substantial
    c. human

 6. As it develops abstract thought, soul is

    a. simple
    b. spiritual
    c. substantial


  3. Inmortality

   The human soul does not die, it is inmortal. There are some reasons which defend this argumentation, as following:

   a) Metaphysical argumentation. Death happens due to separation or descomposition of the parts of a being. Man dies when his soul and body are separated. But soul has no parts because it is simple, so it cannot be separated or decomposed.

   b) Historical argumentation. Through history, all the civilizations and cultures have believed in the survival of the dead. The body is decomposed and disappears, but the soul remains. All the cultures have worshipped and have made offerings to their ancestors since ever. It would be very difficult something believed by so many cultures ended to be false.

   c) Moral argumentation. It was written “If our soul dies, good men are the most despairing”. It happens that good men have less human success than bad ones and must bear with injustices and pains of several types. It would be an injustice to end our lives in such way, so a divine justice is hoped, and the soul must be inmortal for that.

   d) d) Psychological argumentation. There are a desire in every man of surviving after death. Men have the desire of inmortality, and such a constant desire must be satisfied.

  C. Answer with one of these letters: a, b, c.

  1. If soul is inmortal, then

    a. it never dies
    b. it is simple
    c. it is substantial

  2. All the civilizations have believed in their survival for a ... argumentation

    a. moral
    b. psychological
    c. historical

 3. Bad men triumph. The argumentation is

    a. historical
    b. moral
    c. metaphysical

 4. Dead is produced by decomposition, according to a ... argumentation

    a. psychological
    b. metaphysical
    c. moral

 5. There is a yearning for surviving forever, according to a ... argumentation

    a. psychological
    b. moral
    c. metaphysical

 6. The soul cannot be decomposed because it is

    a. spiritual
    b. aesthetic
    c. simple




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®Arturo Ramo García.-Record of intellectual property of Teruel (Spain) No 141, of 29-IX-1999
Plaza Playa de Aro, 3, 1º DO 44002-TERUEL







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