This article was originally published on The Conversation.
Ideas about the soul have been powerful throughout the history of religion and philosophy. Until the 19th century, most people took the existence of souls for granted. With the rise of modern psychology, this belief lost its plausibility, and today it is largely absent from academic philosophical and even theological writing.
Many now deny the existence of a soul, considering human emotions and motives simply a function of neurons firing. Disney Pixar s new film Soul seems to go against the grain of this development.
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It presents its viewers with two realms of being. The first is the realm of human activity, where life occurs. The second realm is of the soul – where life has yet to begin, the great before, and where it ends, the great beyond. In their conception of the soul, the producers hark back to some of the most influential ideas of western intellectual history but in an unmistakably 21st-century w
Anderson to kick-off spring philosophy forum series Feb. 12
OBU
Dr. Tawa Anderson, associate professor of philosophy, will deliver a faculty lecture for the first philosophy forum of the spring semester. The event will take place Friday, Feb. 12, at 4 p.m. in room 220 in the upper level of the Geiger Center. Anderson’s lecture is titled, “The Quest for a Satisfied Insignificance.” The event is scheduled to conclude by 5:15 p.m.
Philosophy forums bring issues of broad philosophical importance to the sphere of public conversation on campus. Anderson organizes the philosophy forum series.
“Aspiring pastors are frequently accused of possessing a Messiah complex, a pressing need to be needed, and/or a desire to be important or influential,” Anderson said. “More broadly, Western society celebrates the contributions of significant personages who chart the course for institutions or nations. We admire C. S. Lewis for his literary and apologetic impact; we respect Winston Ch