|
|
Article: soul
- Article from:
- The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
CopyrightThe Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information)
|
soul the vital, immaterial, life principle, generally conceived as existing within humans and sometimes within all living things, inanimate objects, and the universe as a whole. Religion and philosophy have long been concerned with the nature of the soul in their attempts to understand existence and the meaning of life.
Differing Views of the Soul
In more primitive religions (forms of animism and spiritism), the soul is often conceived as controlling both motor and mental processes; death, the cessation of these processes, is thus viewed as caused by the departure of the soul. Pantheism denies the individuation of human souls, and materialism declares the soul nonexistent. One of the ...
Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles:
|
|
Article: Mind
New Dictionary of the History of Ideas;
700+ words
... ... own soul. The vegetative soul in the liver was responsible ... The heart housed the vital soul, which produced passions and action. The rational soul, not surprisingly, was ... study of the houses of the souls. But anatomy alone was not ...
|
|