Do animals have souls?

[Crysocyan]

Most people who have had pets have communicated with them after death in some form. This is part of the reason why I think people who don't believe in souls/spirits are serial killer like in their lack of meaningful attachments. Vegas are stupid though. You are allowed to eat animal,s just respect the kind of sacrifice that is being made by not mistreating animals while they are alive.

Is it okay if I respect the kind of Sacrifice that's in the Eucharist (not Transubstantiation)?

 

[Un Platano]

There is no such thing as a soul, therefore animals can not have them.

Agreed, the only thing that leaves the body when one dies is poop.

 

[mindlessobserver]

I think it really depends on what we mean by a soul. All creation is a part of God in some sense, as God willed it all into being. It all serves his divine order. All Living things also die, including humans. So in order to deal with this existential angst we like to conjure up images of an afterlife modelled after high class living for the society of the time. For the Feudal Europeans this was a heavenly court like their own Kings and Queens. For the Muslims, it was like the palace of a rich sultan complete with harems and gardens flowing with water.

Personally I think both are off base, and from my own reading into various theological philosophies I think the most glaring mistake in all of them is in God's first command. "Be Fruitful and Multiply". People focus on the basic mechanics. God wants all life to increase. Okay. But its the "Why" that really matters. At a fundamental level god wants people to see his creation. Even modern physics notes this fact. Quantum mechanics functions differently when its being observed as opposed to when its not. The more living things there are, the more observers of creation there are.

So in this respect, Animals do have a place in gods heavenly chorus because they are observers just like us. The difference I think is that humans are aware of their observation. Which means we are capable of willful blindness, or even lying about what we see. We are capable of forcing creation to contort into something it was never intended simply by will of our ability to delude ourselves. Something no Animal is capable of doing.

This is the essence of the verse saying "God made us in his image". We aren't just casual observers of creation. We are ACTIVE participants in the creation. And the promise for us is different then with the animals. We have a higher purpose, and that purpose could be turned to corrupt ends. So we are tested, and those found unable to handle the responsibility of being an active creator, those who would turn their thoughts and words to destruction cannot come into their own as active participants in Gods plan.

Oddly enough, it was the video game "Outer Wilds" that really captured my own personal "revelations" as it were. It was rather shocking to me that someone else had hit upon the same idea because I figured I was completely schizo. Apparently I am in good company.

 

[Moths]

Humans are an animal and they have souls so why not

 

[Sparkletor 2.0]

Imagine dying and going to heaven and it's filled with all the mosquitos that have ever died. Even the prehistoric ones that were the size of seagulls.

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

Yes. My face mites are going to Hell for premarital sex. All one million of them.

 

[Irredemable Retardation]

There is no such thing as a soul, therefore animals can not have them.

Soul, Spirit, Etc. are terms used by religions to define a form of consciousness, so even schools of materialist thought accept the existence of a "soul" in some form.
While in theory reductionist materialism is the more reasonable position to take, it has some problems that so far the proponents are unable to respond satisfatorily as of now, only a quasi-religious "It explains everything guise" hubris.
My personal view is that if consciousness is immaterial like religions claim, then not only animals, but all forms of life, up to the entire universe, are conscious.

 

[AnonymousKot]

It couldn't be Heaven without them.
It couldn't be Eden without them.

G-d expresses his compassion in animal terms and imagery throughout Scripture. Animals have rich inner lives, and came to death through our Fall from Eden. They bear the curse with us, and I believe their reward will not be eternal nothingness. They were with us all this time. I don't see G-d losing any of his creations to the grave. After all why should he, he created them and pronounced them good.

What's with the G-d, just say God

 

[AgendaPoster]

What's with the G-d, just say God

found him

 

[CAPTAIN HAPPY]

I always assumed they have a spirit, but not a soul.

 

[soulgains]

What kind of a question is this? Of course they have souls!

 

[ITK]

Saint Francis preached to birds, exhorted a wolf to repentance and drew to himself rabbits and fish due to his holiness.

 

[xoodyak]

One time I was tripping on LSD and the was some movie on the TV, I immediately noticed that people's eyes and mouths were kind of floating in front of their faces. It made me realize that our brains process eyes and mouth separately from the rest of visual input. The skin of the face is no different than the sky or the trees, they're the background. Because I was tripping balls these two systems were out of sync and I didn't perceive the entire face as a coherent whole.

Where am I going with this? Well to me it seems that when you strip away the religious and philosophical connotations, the concept of a soul comes down to perception. We perceive other humans as having souls, because our brains have dedicated machinery for interacting with other humans, separate from the rest of our environment. We have deeply built-in preconceptions about the structure of reality, because our genes endow us with a particular brain structure, because it's adaptive.

You can't isolate or measure a soul in the laboratory. Instead, you rely on your built-in soul detector. It may get confused when you look at apes. Brains are also quite flexible and I don't doubt that people can see the soul in their dog's eyes for example, but I'd question the sincerity of anyone who tried to argue that mosquitoes and tapeworms have souls. So it's subjective but not arbitrary.

 

[Android raptor]

If humans have souls, I don't see why other animals wouldn't have them as well. Humans tend to overestimate how special they are.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Only dogs and they all go to heaven.

 

[Local Degenerate]

Animals have shown a capacity for kindness as much as humans.

Animals are undeniably sentient.

By a moral or a logical definition, yes.

 

[admiral]

This is such a controversial issue that it's become a somewhat common trolling tactic to post an intentionally inflammatory and ridiculous 'meme' (usually some shit-tier lisaposting) on the subject to r/catholicmemes and watch as the subsequent squabbling consumes the sub for at least 24 hours until the mods can get their shit together and wrangle discussion back onto the usual safe topics of 'prots are stupid haha' and 'new thing bad, old thing good'

As it turns out, the statement 'I think my dog will go to heaven' is enough to send some people (mostly adult converts, the usual suspects when it comes to online tradcath vitriol) into fits of frothing rage. These are often the same people found doomposting on r/catholicism about how the entire church is RUINED FOREVER because their local priest once wore brown shoes to mass.

I think all sentient beings are eligible to enter the presence of God, because they are capable of experiencing affection.

Thomas Aquinas was cool but he was not infallible, no matter what Thomists might try to tell you.

 

[Rome's rightful successor]

They do have souls, it's more believable that they have souls then some humans do.

 

[Mothra1988]

This is such a controversial issue that it's become a somewhat common trolling tactic to post an intentionally inflammatory and ridiculous 'meme' (usually some shit-tier lisaposting) on the subject to r/catholicmemes and watch as the subsequent squabbling consumes the sub for at least 24 hours until the mods can get their shit together and wrangle discussion back onto the usual safe topics of 'prots are stupid haha' and 'new thing bad, old thing good'

As it turns out, the statement 'I think my dog will go to heaven' is enough to send some people (mostly adult converts, the usual suspects when it comes to online tradcath vitriol) into fits of frothing rage. These are often the same people found doomposting on r/catholicism about how the entire church is RUINED FOREVER because their local priest once wore brown shoes to mass.

I think all sentient beings are eligible to enter the presence of God, because they are capable of experiencing affection.

Thomas Aquinas was cool but he was not infallible, no matter what Thomists might try to tell you.

Meme Catholics are retarded. The Bible obviously implied animals have souls or it wouldn't have made an appropriate sacrifice, thus Cain's vegetables getting the thumbs down.

 

[LaxerBRO]

Interesting question...but I need to ask why would there need to be animals in heaven?

Revelation 21:4

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.”

Revelation 5:13

And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying,“To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”

I would suggest that those in heaven for a greater purpose. Gone would be the pull for worldly desires. Rather, heaven would be a place where all sorrow is removed so God can be praised unceasingly.

In such an environment, why would our better selves even need animals?