Animals and Souls
It used to be an assumption, and a very convenient one, at that, that only human beings have that esoteric quality we call 'soul.' But how do we recognize a soul? What are its signs in a personality? What assumptions was that assumption built on? Descartes shaped the notion back when Reason was all the rage, and spirituality not so much, that animals are basically meat mechanisms, all their actions based on reflex. He asserted further that the mechanical understanding of animals absolved people... Sign in to see full entry.