In the case of muscle memory I don't see how it can be carried into another life if the muscles are not part of that life. Besides, I might be reincarnated as a slug. — Fooloso4
Was that your main argument though? Muscle memory? — frank
I'm asking how you know these things, once generated, disappear with your body? — frank
...what it is that is separate from the body and functions and endures without it.
— Fooloso4
They call it the soul. Why is that answer insufficient? — frank
Manual skills are bodily skills. They involve touch and specific bodily movements. How are they maintained if you no longer have a body? — Fooloso4
I don't think a person who believes in reincarnation would say that you retain specific bodily movements from one life to the next. — frank
I think they would say that just as you are the same person you were seven years ago (the rate of cellular regeneration), you are the same person in the next life — frank
So the soul is one's personal identity?So it's you. — frank
The reincarnated Jimi Hendrix would not be born with his ability to play guitar and would not have "ever been experienced". — Fooloso4
There is a fundamental difference. Cellular regeneration does not transfer from one body to the next. That would certainly make giving birth difficu — Fooloso4
Then all the problems of personal identity are summoned by reincarnation. Persistence, evidence, population, ontology and import, for starters. — Banno
The problem for reincarnation is that of tracking persistence across distinct lives. — Banno
k
I don't find that at all satisfactory, and would be disappointed if you did. But perhaps you can see the problem. — Banno
As I said, I'm looking for a reason to rule it out. You haven't given me one. — frank
Did you know that if you cook carrots, onions, and celery together it tastes amazing? — frank
Why don't you take the challenge of coming up with an answer? — frank
Of course not. The new Jimi would probably be drawn to guitar music or something like that. — frank
What I'm really looking for from Fooloso4 is his or her basis for ruling out reincarnation. — frank
I have not ruled it out, I just have not ruled it in. I find no compelling argument to do so and cannot make sense of what a disembodied soul even is. — Fooloso4
People have understood it for thousands of years. I guess you're cut off from the vast majority of people in your own culture and broader language group. — frank
See my earlier comments about Plato's Phaedo. While ostensibly he is laying out an argument to support an immortal soul, he is at the same time showing that there is no coherent concept of an immortal soul. — Fooloso4
Added: I also cited two seminal sources from my own culture: Aristotle and the Hebrew Bible. Neither posits an immortal soul that exists apart from a particular body. — Fooloso4
Does Christianity provide a coherent account of the soul or simply claim it? Which version of Christianity are you talking about? The one that claim bodily resurrection of just the soul or Paul's spiritual body, sōma pneumatikos? — Fooloso4
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