JaMDuDe wrote:
Animals arent smart enough to think about philosophy. You bringing up that argument to show that there is no God is stupid.
Its called a soul. But you dont believe in it so you tell me where morality came from.
You keep bringing up the soul as it relates to human behavior and how you perceive it to be 'better' than animals. Try studying some psychology instead of swallowing whatever you read on those Christian websites of yours. Lets take a look at 'morality' from the perspective of evolutionary psychology (yes, there is such a thing). Imagine we are looking at a group of humans 100000 years ago (yes, there was a 100000 years ago as well, contrary to your beliefs). The group
had to work together to survive, its that simple. If the men were only interested in sex, and ran off after impregnating a woman, the woman would probably die along with his offspring. Now, I imagine this happened anyway, but the point is 'morals' were promoted and reinforced through the reproductive process (both genetically and socially, if you don't know what a 'meme' is, go look it up.) However, the fact remains that morality is almost completely a societal invention. Go to other places in the world and morals are completely different. Go back a few hundred years to Europe and the norms were different. You're attempting to use human behavior to prove the existence of the soul,
without any idea of what you're talking about.
Now, lets take a look at why the soul means nothing when looking at human behavior. The brain has been directly linked to behavior in so many ways its not even questioned any more. MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging), CAT scans (Computed Axial Tomography), ECGs (electroencelographs), PET (Positron emission tomography), all of these methods have been used to map the brain and what functions it has. Take any number of mental disorders, like schizophrenia. Shizophrenia drastically alters a person's personality, and it has
absolutely nothing to do with a soul. Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personality disorder) causes a person to have more than one personality. If you met the person at different times, you would swear you were talking to two different people, but they inhabit the same body. Are there two (or more, DID often results in 3 or more personalities) souls in that body? Or is the brain responsible? Alzheimers as well, the nicest Christian you ever met could forget they ever had faith, along with their own wife and children. It has nothing to do with the person's 'soul', and everything to do with their brain. (I know this was brought up before, and you wrote it off, but everyone else with an open mind should seriously consider what I have to say.)
Take Phineas Gage, another example I brought up earlier. His case is well documented in psychology. He accidentally lobotomized himself with a railroad tie and a blasting cap, and walked away from it. However, his personality underwent a major shift. Before the accident, his friends described him as courteous, hardworking and kind, but afterwards he became lazy and mean, and started swearing alot. Why did this happen? He destroyed or damaged much of the part of the brain that is related to personality. Tell me, if the soul is responsible for all our actions, how did he manage to damage his soul with an iron rod?
Whats my point? The brain is far,
far more complex than you give it credit for. Either do some studying (I know, it will mean getting information from a
real educational source. *gasp*), or stop making ridiculous claims in an effort to bolster your faith. I await your scintillating one line reply, or better yet a copy and paste.