Do Animals Have Souls of Some Sort?

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ClemtheCatholic

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I use this other private forum and a guy there posted this:

There are different uses of the word “soul”… The Thomistic/Aristotelian Philosophical usage of it applies to anything which is alive. But there are three main types of souls: vegetative (mainly in plants), sensitive (mainly in animals), and rational (mainly in humans). Colloquially, “soul” is often used as referring to rational souls. But according to the strict terminology of Thomistic philosophy - which, by the way, is the most important philosophy to the Catholic Church - anything which is alive has a soul.

I find the last sentence particularly interesting. Does the Catholic Church say that anything alive has a soul? Would this be using the world “soul” in a definitive way or would it simply be describing the nature of the animal? I always thought the soul was only for humans and it was our spiritual element…

Also, anybody here know what the 3 different souls he listed are by definition?

Hope someone can help me out here!

God Bless,
ClemtheCatholic
 
Mortal, and Immortal soul…

the plants, animals, Monkeys, Mortal soul.
Humans , Immortal soul. Imparishable and exists on for ever, attained at the moment that God gives you life in the womb, which says to extinquish life in the womb is murder of a human with the soul existed of…
 
It is really interesting. However it all works with contexts as one wishes to use them. Soul, which is basically to face the judgment, is only human soul. Human body decomposes as it is separated from the soul (death). This means that only man (human beings) posseses a soul. Cows, dogs, rozes, smoke, sand, water, computers, fish etc (the living and the non-living, I mean), possess no souls.
My view, my understanding!

With Love!
 
The soul is like a blue-print of the body. It’s the thing that bears the information about who and what you are. The Latin for soul is Anima- think of ‘animates’. Thus all living things have a soul. When we are Resurrected on the Last Day, God will allow our souls to form new bodies which will perfectly reflect the fullness of who and what we are without imperfection. Animal souls may not be eternal though. St. Thomas Aquinas quotes Aristotle:
The ancient philosophers made no distinction between sense and intellect, and referred both a corporeal principle…Plato, however, drew a distinction between intellect and sense; yet he referred both to an incorporeal principle, maintaining that sensing, just as understanding, belongs to the soul as such. From this it follows that even the souls of brute animals are subsistent.
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But Aristotle held that of the operations of the soul, understanding alone is performed without a corporeal organ.

On the other hand, sensation and the consequent operations of the sensitive soul are evidently accompanied with change in the body; thus in the act of vision, the pupil of the eye is affected by a reflection of color: and so with the other senses. Hence it is clear that the sensitive soul has no “per se” operation of its own, and that every operation of the sensitive soul belongs to the composite. Wherefore we conclude that as the souls of brute animals have no “per se” operations they are not subsistent. For the operation of anything follows the mode of its being.

In other words, according to St. Thomas, once an animal dies, its soul dies. This conclusion has led to the further conclusion that animals have no part of Heaven, as if God hasn’t the power to restore them even if, indeed, Aristotle was right. But there is good reason to believe that at least one of the above premises is wrong: the omnipotence of God – His power to do all that does not contradict His Divine Nature – is a given. And listen to how Sacred Scripture describes the spiritual Kingdom of Christ:

Isaias 11:6-9
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb: and the leopard shall lie down with the kid: the calf and the lion, and the sheep shall abide together, and a little child shall lead them. The calf and the bear shall feed: their young ones shall rest together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp: and the weaned child shall thrust his hand into the den of the basilisk. They shall not hurt, nor shall they kill in all my holy mountain, for the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the covering waters of the sea.

Interesting subject!
 
rocklobster said:
Is it wrong that I think there will be animals in Heaven?
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No I don’t think so. Listen to how it describes God’s desire for all of His creation:

Wisdom 1:13-14
For God made not death, neither hath He pleasure in the destruction of the living. For He created all things that they might be…

Consider the concern He has for even the smallest of His creatures:

Psalm 83:3-4
My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God. For the sparrow hath found herself a house, and the turtle a nest for herself where she may lay her young ones: Thy altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God.

Matthew 6:26-30
Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? And which of you by taking thought, can add to his stature by one cubit? And for raiment why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they labour not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these. And if the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe: how much more you, O ye of little faith?

Luke 12:6
Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?

It is clear that God can restore the souls of animals even if their souls are not subsistent, and the above indicates that He would, too. Peter Kreeft writes:
…remember that everything real and valuable on earth came from heaven to begin with. A cat is not merely evolved molecules in motion; it is a divine idea, a work of art, and a sign. It is a natural sign: it has something of what it signifies, and what it signifies is something heavenly; so there is something of heaven in a cat. And heaven does not die. God does not throw his artwork into the wastebasket; God does not make junk. All his work has eternal value. It passes through time and seems to pass away – but it is in eternity.
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King Solomon, known for his wisdom, seems to leave the question open –

Ecclesiastes 3:17-22
And I said in my heart: God shall judge both the just and the wicked, and then shall be the time of every thing. I said in my heart concerning the sons of men, that God would prove them, and shew them to be like beasts. Therefore the death of man, and of beasts is one, and the condition of them both is equal: as man dieth, so they also die: all things breathe alike, and man hath nothing more than beast: all things are subject to vanity. And all things go to one place: of earth they were made, and into earth they return together. Who knoweth if the spirit of the children of Adam ascend upward, and if the spirit of the beasts descend downward?

– God is good and merciful and Love itself. Trust Him with everything in your soul. He will not disappoint you.
 
rocklobster said:
Is it wrong that I think there will be animals in Heaven?
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Absolutely not wrong. There is nothing biblical to deny that animals will be in heaven. While they have mortal souls (unlike our immortal souls) there is nothing that says God cannot bring them to heaven. As a matter of fact…did Christ not say that He came to bring all creation to the Father?
 
Wa_Michael said:
It is really interesting. However it all works with contexts as one wishes to use them. Soul, which is basically to face the judgment, is only human soul. Human body decomposes as it is separated from the soul (death). This means that only man (human beings) posseses a soul. Cows, dogs, rozes, smoke, sand, water, computers, fish etc (the living and the non-living, I mean), possess no souls.
My view, my understanding!

With Love!
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Animals and plants have mortal souls. Otherwise they could not live.
 
Animals do not know right from wrong nor are they able to repent or commit their lives to Jesus.
On the other hand I was an only child of parents who moved frequently. Growing up alone my only friend was Duke. It’s been 50 years and I still miss him. When, and if, I get to Heaven I want to see him there. He deserves his spot.
 
wondrousgnat said:
Animals do not know right from wrong nor are they able to repent or commit their lives to Jesus.
On the other hand I was an only child of parents who moved frequently. Growing up alone my only friend was Duke. It’s been 50 years and I still miss him. When, and if, I get to Heaven I want to see him there. He deserves his spot.
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I know the feeling. Do you know the “Rainbow Bridge” story?
 
“Animals do not know right from wrong nor are they able to repent or commit their lives to Jesus.”

You need to spend more time around animals. Many animals do know right from wrong and have the same set of emotions you have. They love, they hate, they fear, they dream.

They DO NOT NEED to commit to Jesus, they already know and serve Him by default.
An animal cannot sin, they do not have the sin nature.

Read up on St. Francis of Assissi and St. Joe Cupertino for a couple of saints that dealt with animals regularly. They did not in anyway treat them as mindless beasts.
Do you think that the lion who helped bury St. Mary of Egypt did not know why he was there?
 
Of course there are animals in Heaven. God didn’t make junk, He looked down and said it was good. Also, I have witnessed how absolutely committed animals are to God and his creation. And the joy they bring to humanity will be in Heaven with us. Do you think St. Francis of Assisi would want to be somewhere that did not contain all of the aspects of creation? Even the rocks are closer to God than we as humans are, and no, they do not contain souls or life within them.
 
The Catholic Church teaches that all living things have some sort of soul. Humans, animals, plants, etc., all have souls.

The Catholic Church teaches that humans have immortal souls, or “spiritual souls.” Animals on the other hand have mortal souls, or “material souls.”

Can animals enter Heaven? Well, that is up to God. God can allow anyone He wants into Heaven. Animals are very important to us here on earth. We need them for food, clothing, medicine and so on. What I do know is that God created animals, and therefore we must treat them with care and respect.
 
ClemtheCatholic said:
Does the Catholic Church say that anything alive has a soul? Would this be using the world “soul” in a definitive way or would it simply be describing the nature of the animal? I always thought the soul was only for humans and it was our spiritual element…
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Every living body — vegetable, lower animal, human — has a life-principle, a soul. And just as ours is the only spirit which is a soul, so ours is the only soul which is a spirit. Ours is the only spirit which is also a soul — that is to say, the life principle in a body. God is a spirit, but has no body; the angels are spirits, but have no body. Only in man spirit is united with a body, animates the body, makes it to be a living body.

SHEED
 
Glomung said:
“Animals do not know right from wrong nor are they able to repent or commit their lives to Jesus.”

They DO NOT NEED to commit to Jesus, they already know and serve Him by default.
An animal cannot sin, they do not have the sin nature.

Read up on St. Francis of Assissi and St. Joe Cupertino for a couple of saints that dealt with animals regularly. They did not in anyway treat them as mindless beasts.
Do you think that the lion who helped bury St. Mary of Egypt did not know why he was there?
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That’s what I think. Much has been made of the fact that since animals do not know right vs wrong or good vs evil they cannot go to heaven.

That proves to me only that they are pure and completely innocent. Which says to me that they go straight back to the God who made them. God loves all of his creation and will make provision for thereof.

👍
 
The Latin word for “soul” is anima.

An animal is literally a being with a soul!

But not the same as our human soul, which, among other functions, generates our human mind.

Whatever somebody may say about whether or not animals can have life everlasting, the Church has left that question open.

ICXC NIKA
 
jenwha said:
That’s what I think. Much has been made of the fact that since animals do not know right vs wrong or good vs evil they cannot go to heaven.

That proves to me only that they are pure and completely innocent. Which says to me that they go straight back to the God who made them. God loves all of his creation and will make provision for thereof.

👍
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I agree with this…my two pets are shining examples of God’s love…
I may be only gone 5 minutes, but when I come home again, my dog & cat are there to greet me with such joy & excitement and yes…LOVE…that it’s as if I were gone for a long time.
And when I don’t spend as much time with them as they would prefer, the dog especially, comes to me with a distinctively sad look in his eyes as if to say…“I’m here and I need you to love me”
I pray even for my pets, that they will join me in Heaven, if I’m lucky enough to go there myself.
 
So far, no one has provided any Church teaching to support their point.

I am interested in Church teaching on this subject and not just people’s opinions.

So where does the Church teach that animals have souls?
ClemtheCatholic said:
Okay, so could somebody define “the animal soul”?
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Then this ^

And finally, how can animals know right from wrong? Sure, some animals can be tamed but how can they know right from wrong? Do animals have a conscience?

I need more details, not just personal opinions.
 
terminated007 said:
So far, no one has provided any Church teaching to support their point.

I am interested in Church teaching on this subject and not just people’s opinions.

So where does the Church teach that animals have souls?

Then this ^

And finally, how can animals know right from wrong? Sure, some animals can be tamed but how can they know right from wrong? Do animals have a conscience?

I need more details, not just personal opinions.
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I don’t know about Church Documents per se, however, Scripture more than once refers to animals as possessing a soul (Hebrew: nephesh; Greek: psyche.)

ICXC NIKA
 
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