Honestly, this was a bit of a challenge to write, but it's really all about the subject you pick. Extended definition essays usually require you to go more in depth about whatever subject you pick. For example, let's say I wanted to do an extended definition essay on a sunflower. I could talk about its origin, what conditions it requires to grow, what colors it comes in, really anything I can think of. The important thing to remember here is that you don't want your chosen subject to be too large or too small.
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Extended Definition Essay of a Soul
Throughout the ages, no question has grabbed our attention as much as the existence of God and the soul. Many significant people and organizations all across the world have tried to answer this question. Some, like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Darwin have looked for the answer in philosophy. Others look for the answer in different religions such as Christianity, Native American, and Buddhism. Many scientists have tried as well, among them Duncan Macdougall, LaV. Twinning, and Gerry Nahum. A correct answer from any of the above could change our worldview. Churches would either stand empty or fill to the brim with members, and all questions about death and the afterlife would be answered. Unfortunately, all these groups have one thing in common. Despite how well they may have convinced themselves, the rest of the world still considers their proof sadly lacking.
Although Plato was the first to properly define and use the word soul, most of his ideas came from his teacher, Socrates. Like Socrates, Plato believed that human nature consisted of three main parts: appetite, reason, and aggression. Appetite refers to our bodily desires, such as thirst and hunger. Reason is what keeps us from acting on these desires when we shouldn't. (For example, if we are thirsty but the water in front of us is poisoned.) Aggression is how it sounds; our natural born tendency to display our anger through physical actions. He believed a soul's destiny here on earth was to conquer both appetite and aggression with reason, in order that it may ascend to heaven. For Plato, it was reason that held importance above all else, and because of this, he believed a pure soul must be driven primarily by reason. People who prescribed to this view included many of the philosophers and scientists of the time, and they considered knowledge the key to a successful life.
Aristotle, his student, delved further into this idea of a soul. In comparison with Plato, his beliefs were much the same. He believed we all have baser emotions or desires we are driven by, and it is our purpose to ensure that reason triumphs over all else. Aristotle also argued for an immaterial soul, one that survives our bodily death. His proof lies in the fact that we can grasp immaterial concepts. He questioned how we can know perfect beauty or perfect equality if it doesn't exist in the material world. His thoughts led him to conclude that the only way to understand these immaterial concepts would be through an immaterial part of ourselves, such as a soul. To Aristotle, this was the greatest proof that a soul must exist.
In the 1800s, Darwin entered the picture. While widely accepted now, his theories of evolution and natural selection challenged the common view of the time: that humans were created for a purpose by God. He proposed a new idea, evolution from apes, and had plenty of solid evidence to back it up. To some, this made religion seem rather faulty. At the time, God had been the accepted answer for what science was unable to explain. With Darwin's discovery, that no longer held true. If Darwin was correct, humans had no soul, and became nothing more than a material organism clinging to hope that something more exists. Although it is a tad depressing, those who believe so think there is only the material world, life does not continue after death, and souls don't exist.
Each of the religions of today have a different view on the soul. Christians, for example, believe that the soul is a part of human consciousness, and continues to live on after your mortal body perishes. Where this soul lives on and why is where many branches and religions differ. For example, Lutherans believe that heaven is attained through the grace of God, and not by living an ultimately 'good' or 'bad' life. Catholics, on the other hand, believe living a 'bad' life will keep you from heaven. This is where purgatory comes in. Purgatory is a waiting area where the soul is cleansed of the bad deeds in their life in order that it may become pure and ascend to heaven. The length of time the soul spends there depends entirely on how many 'bad' deeds they've committed in their lives. Although most Christian religions today (with the exception of Catholics) do not believe in purgatory, the followers of Christianity tend to have a common theme in that a good life leads to a pure soul, and, from there, entry to heaven.
Before the European invasion, most Native Americans had an entirely different concept of heaven. The believed the body had three souls, each one going to a different place after death. One soul stayed anchored to the mortal body, and would forever hang around the burial site. Due to this belief, it's no surprise Native American burial grounds are considered extremely sacred, and the desecration of one carries serious consequences. The second soul would remain with family members, bringing them good or bad luck, depending on the spirit's whim and the respect given to it. The third soul was considered the main part of the person's being. After death and depending on the tribe, the soul could take the form of anything from star people to water, ultimately depending on what was significant to the tribe. The effect of this was a people who considered the dead very important to their everyday lives.
Buddhism also concerns a soul that lives on after the mortal body has died. However, practitioners of Buddhism differ ideologically from other religions because they believe in rebirth. While most religions, such as Christianity and Islam, believe that you get one shot here on earth and it's over, Buddhists believe you may come back again and again in various other forms depending on your karma. In a simplified version, karma is basically brownie points. Good karma counts in your favor, and bad karma comes back to bite you in your next rebirth. Although forms here on earth may change, they believe the soul is the one thing that stays constant. Only some souls are able to reach enlightenment, in which they are freed from the constraints of their minds and bodies. After enlightenment is reached, it is believed these souls experience nirvana, where they attain perfect peace.
However, the existence of a soul isn't just a subject for philosophers and religions; scientists have also tried to tackle the problem. One such scientist, Duncan Macdougall, believed the soul to be both physical and spiritual. Due to its physical nature, he reasoned, the soul must have weight. To test this theory, he need volunteers. In 1901 six consumption patients, all of them near death, agreed to take part in his experiment. With their agreement, he rigged a bed on top of a scale. After zeroing out the scale, he had the patient carried onto the bed, and waited for them to die. Three doctors would assist him with this. One would listen to the heartbeat, one would look for breathing, and the other would watch the scale. His first test estimated the soul to weigh about twenty-one grams, prompting a book on the subject. For those who believed in a soul, this validated their beliefs. Unfortunately, that would be the only test considered to have valid results, since pesky things like ethics and popular opinion tended to get in the way.
However, the obsession with weighing a soul still prevailed. In 1917 a science teacher, LaV. Twinning, decided to repeat this experiment on mice, killing them in any number of ways. No matter what he tried, he could not get the scale to decrease. This didn't really bother him any though. According to the popular Christian belief (of which he presumably was one), animals don't have souls, so there shouldn't have been any change in weight. Of course, this raises the disturbing question of why he decided to kill mice in the first place.
Another scientist, Gerry Nahum, believes he has got the mystery of the soul completely solved. Although the hobby seems a little odd for a gynecologist, his background in quantum theory, thermodynamics, and other things equally hard to understand have given him an unique take on Duncan Macdougall's view. His reasoning is that the soul is a type of energy, and since energy is neither created nor destroyed, it must continue to survive after the mortal body is gone. Since we know energy is directly correlated to weight, we can prove the existence of a soul by weighing the body at the moment of death. Due to the advancement of technology since Macdougall's time, his set-up is a little more complex, and unfortunately for Nahum, he lacks the funding to ever get it off the ground. However, if he ever receives the funding, he plans to build a box-like structure completely isolated from the surrounding environment. Nahum wants to then set this box on a very sensitive scale, and surround it with electromagnetic energy detectors. If his theory is correct, once an organism dies both a drop in weight and energy should register on his equipment.
Doubtless of your view, it would seem the idea of a soul is central to our way of life. The implications of it philosophically, religiously, and scientifically pervade our very sense of self, prompting kind acts as well as prayer and the belief in life after death. If the existence of a soul is ever proven, churches will become flooded as more and more people join. If disproven, religion will collapse.
Bibliography
Danchevskaya, Oksana. "Concept of Soul Among North American Indians." Web. 11 Feb 2015. <http://www/se.edu/nas/files/2013/NAS-2011-Proceedings-Danchevskaya.pdf>
Roach, Mary. Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005. Print.
Velasquez, Manuel. Philosophy: A Text with Readings, 12th Edition. Boston, Wadsworth, 2014.
