This prompt starts a series of conversations with different AI chat tools. Everyone seems to be excited about these and I had this idea recently, to use them for my own goals. It would be nice to brush up on some terms and some concepts from philosophy and spirituality. And this is a part of the answer from ChatGPT:
Great question—one of the most enduring and profound in philosophy.
In philosophy, the soul is generally understood as the essence of a living being, often associated with consciousness, identity, rationality, or life-force. But its exact meaning depends on the philosophical or religious framework.
Here are some major perspectives:
1. Ancient Greek Philosophy
Plato
- The soul is immortal, non-physical, and the true self.
- He divides it into three parts:
- Rational (reason)
- Spirited (will/emotion)
- Appetitive (desire)
- The soul pre-exists the body and lives on after death.
- Knowledge is recollection from the soul’s prior existence.
There’s more of course; I have just included a small part of the answer.
Which direction would you like to go from here? Let us ask about soul vs. immortality:
Q: what are the reasons in Plato’s philosophy to connect souls to immortality?
Excellent — you’re digging right into the core of Plato’s metaphysics and epistemology. Plato doesn’t just assert the soul is immortal; he gives several philosophical arguments for it, especially in works like the Phaedo, Republic, and Phaedrus. Let’s go over the key reasons Plato connects the soul to immortality.
Lots of stuff to think about in there 🙂
This answer from medllama2 holds the opposite idea:
Q: what is the soul?
The concept of a soul, or an immaterial essence believed to be inherent in humans, has been discussed and
debated throughout history. However, it’s important to note that there is no empirical evidence to support
its existence. The idea of a soul is often associated with religious or spiritual beliefs, but many
scientists and philosophers reject the notion due to lack of evidence.
Anyway, I find these answers better than the (now) classical search engines. Try it and be surprised! For years now, when you search for ideas, metaphysical stuff and such, all you get on the first page are links to the established ecommerce sites and if you are lucky, some books. Nowadays you kind of have to know where to search and how to search for soul-related information …