Immortality of the Soul To start on somewhat a sinister note, all of us will surely die. Despite our differences in gender, status or beliefs, we all share one thing in common, an inevitable death. Our existence will one day cease. Owing to this, a disturbing question that has baffled philosophers for centuries is not really death. Rather, it is whether there is a soul that transcends the death of the body. The immortality of the soul. In seeking to shade some light on this question, the views of Plato, Aristotle and Augustine on the soul’s immortality provides some insightful theoretical explanations. For a hors d 'oeuvre, these three philosophers believed in dualism. Simply put, dualism is the credence that existence or reality is a twofold
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The human soul is distinct from his body since the soul is the principle of life whereas the body is merely an animation. It is obvious that anything animated can be deprived of its life by separating it from its invigorating principle. Thus, the body dies when it is alienated from the soul. On the other hand, the soul can hardly die since it is it very essence is life and is thus immortal. In his later writing to defend the immortality of the soul, Augustine bases his arguments on man’s unrelenting natural desire to persist on existing. He writes that “every man is aware of a deep-seated, ineradicable, natural longing for being alive.” Such desire is rather fundamental and universal craving belong to our rational, common human nature (O’Connor, 1944). The issue of the immortality of the soul is something that every human being has grappled with in their lifetime. Although, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine and several other philosophers have shared their view of the soul’s immortality, it is still not clear which view is the most authentic given that each one of them has received critics from different angles. As it remains, everyone is subject to their own perception and understanding of the matter since even those claim to have tasted the afterlife and travelled back to life often receive sharp disputation to their personal claims and
The human soul is distinct from his body since the soul is the principle of life whereas the body is merely an animation. It is obvious that anything animated can be deprived of its life by separating it from its invigorating principle. Thus, the body dies when it is alienated from the soul. On the other hand, the soul can hardly die since it is it very essence is life and is thus immortal. In his later writing to defend the immortality of the soul, Augustine bases his arguments on man’s unrelenting natural desire to persist on existing. He writes that “every man is aware of a deep-seated, ineradicable, natural longing for being alive.” Such desire is rather fundamental and universal craving belong to our rational, common human nature (O’Connor, 1944). The issue of the immortality of the soul is something that every human being has grappled with in their lifetime. Although, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine and several other philosophers have shared their view of the soul’s immortality, it is still not clear which view is the most authentic given that each one of them has received critics from different angles. As it remains, everyone is subject to their own perception and understanding of the matter since even those claim to have tasted the afterlife and travelled back to life often receive sharp disputation to their personal claims and