Does each human/animal/plant have many souls?

[STT]

We know that we constitute of cells which each is alive. Does that mean that a living being have many souls since each cell has a soul because it is alive? How about electrons and quarks?

I know that Aristotle didn’t believe in atom and consider each being as a substance and form/soul but we know nowadays that this description is not correct.

 

[Richca]

This is an interesting and valid question but I would not agree that Aristotle’s hylemorphism is obsolete, invalid, or has been proven false. His doctrine can be misunderstood and applied incorrectly.
All individual substances, animate or inanimate, have one substantial form which united to matter composes one substantial unified being. Living things such as plants, animals, or human beings have one soul which is the substantial form of the thing. This one soul is the substantial form of the whole body and all of its parts. So, the one soul is the substantial form of each cell of the body and all its other parts such as bones, muscle, heart, liver, arms, legs, etc. The soul is in the whole body and all of its parts. There are many cells in a living body and many elemental atoms too, their parts, and many other body parts as well but only one soul which makes the body a living body and the kind or species of thing it is such as a dog or oak tree. Soul is the name given for the substantial form of living things and which is the principle of life in living things. So, each living cell in the body does not have its own soul since there is only one soul in the body. They are living parts of the body just as our hands and fingers are which, by the way, also do not have their own souls.

 

[STT]

He didn’t believe in atom and think of each being or thing as substance. We however know that we are built of atoms. We however know that we are more than atoms, namely forms. Each atom however is a substance constitute of matter and form too. Am I clear enough?

 

[Thom18]

No. There is not a soul for every individual part, only for each individual being, and not all souls are created equal.

 

[STT]

No. There is not a soul for every individual part , only for each individual being , and not all souls are created equal.

How do you define soul/form? Isn’t soul the source of causality in things or beings. If so each elementary particle has a soul/form.

 

[Richca]

The parts of living bodies including elemental atoms are not considered substances per se or in their own right as long as they are parts of the living thing. A substance is an individual existing thing, one being with one substantial form. Accordingly, if all the atoms in the human body, for example, were substances than a human being would not be one unified being but many billions of beings. I personally experience and see myself as one unified whole and not an aggregate of billions of beings. Various elemental atoms can exist on their own such as gold and silver and in this way are substances composed of matter and form.

 

[Thom18]

At the simplest level, the soul is the animating force of a being.

 

[STT]

The parts of living bodies including elemental atoms are not considered substances per se or in their own right as long as they are parts of the living thing. A substance is an individual existing thing, one being with one substantial form. Accordingly, if all the atoms in the human body, for example, were substances than a human being would not be one unified being but many billions of beings. I personally experience and see myself as a unified whole and not an aggregate of billions of individual beings. Various elemental atoms can exist on their own such as gold and silver and in this way are substances.

I am familiar with his theory. He believe that a thing or a being is a substance, eg. horse, human, stone etc. Each being however is made of matter and form. He however didn’t believe in atoms. To me atom is also a thing therefore it is a substance. So to me (according to my notation) we have primary substance, which is indivisible, such as atom and secondary substance, which is divisible, such as horse each has its own form. So to me the correct theory consist of primary substance, secondary substance, matters and forms.

 

[STT]

At the simplest level, the soul is the animating force of a being.

To me the soul is the animating force of a being or a thing which allows a thing or a being behaves. An atom also behaves. Its behavior is simple though.

 

[AlbMagno]

In a pluricelullar being each cell isn’t alive, as they depend heavily on each other, but the entire being is alive (this is a basic but often misunderstood biological definition).

However, we can’t treat the soul as the animating (anima) force of material entities, since we now know that the animating force in the body would be, in most cases, electrostatic forces between the molecules.

 

[John_Martin]

However, we can’t treat the soul as the animating ( anima ) force of material entities, since we now know that the animating force in the body would be, in most cases, electrostatic forces between the molecules.

The soul is not the animating Force, but the soul is the animating FORM of the body making it alive and purposeful. Electrostatic forces have no intelligence nor direction; they are passive Servants of the Soul; individual cells are also passively moved by the direction of the individual’s soul - they have participation in the act of the individual’s form and move in service of the soul’s act, which is the body in each moment of actualization of the single form of the whole individual being.

John Martin

 

[STT]

In a pluricelullar being each cell isn’t alive, as they depend heavily on each other, but the entire being is alive (this is a basic but often misunderstood biological definition).

Fetus is alive and it is one cell. It has a soul. It divides into two cells each being alive. You can in fact separate two cells from each other and have two babies. Therefore each cell has a soul.

However, we can’t treat the soul as the animating ( anima ) force of material entities, since we now know that the animating force in the body would be, in most cases, electrostatic forces between the molecules.

Electromagnetic force is the device by which particles interact with each other.

 

[STT]

The soul is not the animating Force, but the soul is the animating FORM of the body making it alive and purposeful. Electrostatic forces have no intelligence nor direction; they are passive Servants of the Soul; individual cells are also passively moved by the direction of the individual’s soul - they have participation in the act of the individual’s form and move in service of the soul’s act, which is the body in each moment of actualization of the single form of the whole individual being.

John Martin

You know that fetus divides into two cell in its initial state of growth. You can divide each cell and place them in the womb and have two babies. This means that each divided cell has a soul.

 

[John_Martin]

You know that fetus divides into two cell in its initial state of growth. You can divide each cell and place them in the womb and have two babies. This means that each divided cell has a soul.

Do you not realize that you named a single cell (Fetus) that is a human being’s entire body at it’s earliest moments of animation by this new person’s soul?

But do you not also know that our LORD ‘I AM’ is fully always knowing the doctor’s and patients’ sin and knowing Himself as protecting the new life at the instant of their actualization of their sin by creating a new soul to animate this new second fetal body so that it will not decompose but instead be the body, the fetus, of a living individual?

Thus, certainly, both fetuses are animated individuals of the species, and likewise our God is never caught unaware of our sin.

John Martin

 

[STT]

Do you not realize that you named a single cell (Fetus) that is a human being’s entire body at it’s earliest moments of animation by this new person’s soul?

A fetus is not a human being’s entire body.

But do you not also know that our LORD ‘I AM’ is fully always knowing the doctor’s and patients’ sin and knowing Himself as protecting the new life at the instant of their actualization of their sin by creating a new soul to animate this new second fetal body so that it will not decompose but instead be the body, the fetus, of a living individual?

Thus, certainly, both fetuses are animated individuals of the species, and likewise our God is never caught unaware of our sin.

John Martin

We are not interested to discuss sin in here. In fact the division of one fetus to two separate cells/fetuses can happen naturally too.

 

[AlbMagno]

If you study bio-chemistry, you will undestand that all the cells’ microscopic function are caused by chemical effects (mostly electrostatic force) like the binding of a neurotransmitter to a receptor and the difussion of an enzyme. What I mean is, if we could create an artificial cell (and impossible and inmoral task), evidence suggest that it would function with these phenomenoms, despite not having a soul

I am not negating the existance of the soul (I am also catholic, and the complexity of life seems to be another hint of God’s existance) I am just negating the classical definition of the soul in light of science’s discoveries (like Thomas Aquinas did with Theology in general).

 

[AlbMagno]

Embryonic cells are pluripotent, they have the ability to produce different cells and, with time, and entire body, so God grants it a soul. On the other hand, individual animal cells separated from the body wouldn’t be granted a soul because they are not really alive, they cannot survive on their “own” like an embryonic cell “can”.

 

[Richca]

However, we can’t treat the soul as the animating (anima) force of material entities, since we now know that the animating force in the body would be, in most cases, electrostatic forces between the molecules.

Sorry Albmagno but somebody is telling you a tall tale here. The CCC says that the human spiritual soul is the form of the body and animates the body and Genesis 2:7 says so too. Science hasn’t got a clue what a soul is or what the principle of life is in living things, this is a matter of philosophy. When a person dies and there soul leaves the body, the body is no longer alive is it? As John Martin said, these electrostatic forces and all other bodily and quantum forces are instruments and servants of the soul and its various powers. The body and everything found in it is not the soul. Also, are not electrostatic forces found in rocks or other inanimate objects? Electromagnetism, if that is what your talking about, is found in animate and inanimate things. Are rocks, volcanoes, or stars alive too?

 

[Francis]

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p1s2c1p6.htm

363 In Sacred Scripture the term “soul” often refers to human life or the entire human person .230 But “soul” also refers to the innermost aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him,231 that by which he is most especially in God’s image: “soul” signifies the spiritual principle in man.

364 The human body shares in the dignity of “the image of God”: it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit:232

Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world. Through him they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise their voice in praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason man may not despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day. 233

365 The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the “form” of the body:234 i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.

[366 The Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created immediately by God - it is not “produced” by the parents - and also that it is immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection.235

[367) Sometimes the soul is distinguished from the spirit: St. Paul for instance prays that God may sanctify his people “wholly”, with “spirit and soul and body” kept sound and blameless at the Lord’s coming.236 The Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce a duality into the soul.237 “Spirit” signifies that from creation man is ordered to a supernatural end and that his soul can gratuitously be raised beyond all it deserves to communion with God.238

[368 The spiritual tradition of the Church also emphasizes the heart , in the biblical sense of the depths of one’s being, where the person decides for or against God.239

 

[John_Martin]

A fetus is the entire living body of its animating soul when that soul was created by God an hour ago to animate that body that a man and woman were conceving. You certainly do not maintain that only 60 year old men are the only set of souls with complete bodies. A fetal body is all that a whole human needs to get where he is going at the point when he is an hour old. And when more is needed the soul moves the body to actualize more, to actualize human bodily growth.

As for naturally occurring twins this is an accidental occurrence and might technically be called a defective occurrence of human growth. However this also is not surprise surprise to our dear God who eternally knows this defective occurrence will happen and generates a soul for the new cell at the moment it happens so that it will be a living body rather than a decomposing set of molecules and atoms. He does not do this for every fetus that divides abnormally but only those which he eternally knows it being done by Him in the contingent moment of its division.