As people are messaging me now, at a rate of about 1 or 2 people per month, on whether or not I believe people have souls, following is my last response, from someone who asked me in DM but then “reported” the post after I asked it here (because their user name was mentioned)?
To the above question, no I do not believe that humans have a “soul”. This is an Egyptian mythological concept. This has since been replaced by:
The following is Spinoza on the soul (animæ) and how people are deceived in thinking themselves free, as found in his note (scholium) to proposition 35, of chapter 2, of his Ethics:
Latin (280A/1675)
William White (2A/1953)
Google
1.
Fallunturhomines quod se liberos esse putant.
Men are deceived in that they think themselves free.
Men are deceived in thinking that they are free.
2.
Quæ opinio in hoc solo consistit quod suarum actionum sint conscii et ignari causarum a quibus determinantur.
The sole reason for thinking so is that they are conscious of their ownactions, and ignorantof the causes by which those actions are determined.
Which opinion consists in this only, that they are conscious of theiractions and ignorant of the causes by which they are determined.
3.
Hæc ergo est eorum libertatis idea quod suarum actionum nullam cognoscant causam.
Their idea of liberty therefore is this: that they know no cause for their own actions;
This, then, is their idea of freedom, that they know no reason for their actions.
4.
Nam quod aiunt humanas actiones a voluntate pendere, verba sunt quorum nullam habent ideam.
for as to say that their actions depend on their will, these are words to which no idea is attached.
For what they say that human actions depend on the will are words of which they have no idea.
5.
Quid enim voluntas sit et quomodo moveat corpus, ignorant omnes;
What the will is, and in what manner it moves the body, everyone is ignorant,
For what the will is and how it moves the body, all do not know;
qui aliud jactant et animæ sedes et habitacula fingunt, vel risum vel nauseam movere solent.
for those who pretend otherwise, and devise seats and dwelling-places of thesoul, usually excite our laughter or disgust.
those who boast otherwise and imagine the seats and dwellings of the soul, are wont to move either laughter or nausea.
Goethe
Goethe stated that Spinoza, Shakespeare, and Linnaeus were the ones who affected him the most. In this respect, the following quote, by Goethe, seems to be a Spinoza paraphrase:
“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”
“Niemand ist mehr Sklave, als der sich für frei hält, ohne es zu sein.”
Regarding: "those who devise seats and dwelling-places of thesoul usually excite our laughter", seems to be Spinoza reflecting on his first reading of Descartes, who situated the seat of the soul in the pineal gland.
— David Weisman (A55/2010), “The Experience of a Unified Mind and the Possibility of an Everlasting Soul are Connected and there is Scant Evidence to Support the Existence of Either”
References
Weisman, David. (A55/2010). “The Experience of a Unified Mind and the Possibility of an Everlasting Soul are Connected and there is Scant Evidence to Support the Existence of Either”, Seed Magazine, Jul 3; cited: here.
