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>I don't believe in souls. Why not? I mean I could presume a lot on your behalf, like how the concept is non-falsifiable, lack of evidence that can be replica

>I don't believe in souls. Why not? I mean I could presume a lot on your behalf, like how the concept is non-falsifiable, lack of evidence that can be replicated, past trauma from people you trusted who insisted upon it but then behaved hypocritically, etc. but every time someone says they don't believe in souls I can't help but ask why not. You don't have to answer but I'm always interested to hear what others say. Disclaimer: I personally believe in something akin to souls, not individualized, and it's hard to explain my ideas so I like to hear what others think before I say what I think.

Baeocystin 4y ago
During my childhood, I moved around frequently, and one of my valuable experiences this taught me that a significant portion of a culture's understanding of the world is largely arbitrary. From my point of view, concepts like souls fall firmly in this category.
- avgcorrection 4y ago
  And like concepts like conscious machines?
  - Baeocystin 4y ago
    I'm a materialist, so that matter can think I take as possible a priori, simply because we do, and we're made of matter. And since I think consciousness (however one ultimately defines it) is a physical process, the particulars of any specific substrate might be interesting, but none of it surprising that it might exist.
    - avgcorrection 4y ago
      Makes sense. Thanks.
ben_w 4y ago
The more I learned about the world, the less room there has been for souls. Souls fit fine in a world where ghosts, mediums, possession by sprits, apparitions from the afterlife, dryads, and/or the katabasis of Orpheus are taken seriously. But each of these has turned out to have been mundane (in the old sense of the word) or pure fiction.
- avgcorrection 4y ago
  > Souls fit fine in a world where ghosts, mediums, possession by sprits, apparitions from the afterlife, dryads, and/or the katabasis of Orpheus are taken seriously. But each of these has turned out to have been mundane (in the old sense of the word) or pure fiction. And yet you believe there could be a ghost in the machine…

Baeocystin 4y ago

During my childhood, I moved around frequently, and one of my valuable experiences this taught me that a significant portion of a culture's understanding of the world is largely arbitrary. From my point of view, concepts like souls fall firmly in this category.

avgcorrection 4y ago
And like concepts like conscious machines?
- Baeocystin 4y ago
  I'm a materialist, so that matter can think I take as possible a priori, simply because we do, and we're made of matter. And since I think consciousness (however one ultimately defines it) is a physical process, the particulars of any specific substrate might be interesting, but none of it surprising that it might exist.
  - avgcorrection 4y ago
    Makes sense. Thanks.

ben_w 4y ago

The more I learned about the world, the less room there has been for souls. Souls fit fine in a world where ghosts, mediums, possession by sprits, apparitions from the afterlife, dryads, and/or the katabasis of Orpheus are taken seriously. But each of these has turned out to have been mundane (in the old sense of the word) or pure fiction.

avgcorrection 4y ago
> Souls fit fine in a world where ghosts, mediums, possession by sprits, apparitions from the afterlife, dryads, and/or the katabasis of Orpheus are taken seriously. But each of these has turned out to have been mundane (in the old sense of the word) or pure fiction. And yet you believe there could be a ghost in the machine…