Soullessness

 Soullessness

The soul has been a matter of contention since before even the formation of the Trantorian Imperium.

Despite the claims of many charlatans, the soul is immaterial, non-corporeal and otherwise non-quantifiable, and as such cannot be detected by physical means.

Although the soul cannot be detected directly by any physical means, possession of a soul does impart certain attributes which can be detected. An ensouled person has conscious subjective experience, qualia, also referred to as sentience. Much debate regarding this, known as the "philosophical zombie" discussions, has raged for millennia and will likely continue for many more.

The earliest surviving philosophical views used the same word for 'alive' as for 'ensouled' suggesting that the soul makes living things alive and that all living things possess a souls; which is normally associated with many animist views.

Nearly equally ancient philosophical views associated the ability to dream with being ensouled. It is said that "The soul sleeps whilst the limbs are active, but when man is sleeping, the soul is active and reveals in many a dream "an award of joy or sorrow drawing near."

According to early religious and philosophical traditions, the soul is a self-aware ethereal and immaterial substance particular to a unique living being which incorporates the inner essence of each living being and to be the true basis for sentience.

Early philosophical thought considered the soul as the essence of a person, being that which decides how we behave. The Logos Soul concept comprises three parts:

     the logos (mind, nous, superego or reason)

     the thymos (emotion, ego or spiritedness)

     the pathos (appetitive, id or carnal)

Each of these has a function in a balanced and peaceful soul.

     The logos equates to the mind. It corresponds to the charioteer, directing the balanced horses of appetite and spirit. It allows for logic to prevail, and for the optimisation of balance.

     The thymos comprises our emotional motive, that which drives us to acts of bravery and glory. If left unchecked, it leads to hubris – considered possibly the most fatal of all flaws.

     The pathos equates to the appetite that drives humankind to seek out its basic bodily needs. When the passion controls us, it drives us to hedonism in all forms. In the Ancient view, this is the basal and most feral state.

If the soul is required for Logos, Thymos & Pathos, then sentience, motives & drive, emotions and empathy would be among the reasonable tests for ensoulment.

Medieval thinkers often assigned to the soul attributes such as abstract thought, free will, imagination, faith and love.

Medieval thinkers also assigned very particular aspects of abstract thought such as philosophy and abstract non-calculating math, but also the ability to make and understand humour, to experience humour, but also such aspects as sympathy and empathy, experiencing the suffering of others and wishing to reduce it.

Medieval thinkers defined the soul as "the innermost aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him, that by which he is most especially in God's image: 'soul' signifies the spiritual principle in man." This means that the soul is required to make free-willed ability to make moral judgements and decisions.

There is some disagreement with the popular culture notion regarding the Memory Model of the Self or personal identity, which states that you are your memories or the more complex psychological continuity theory of personal identity which essentially you are your memories and mental states. This leads to the Personal Identity Paradox of Fission. When you have two people with the same set of memories, they cannot both be the same person. Reductio ad absurdum, they are merely two people with the same set of memories and mental states. The results are the same regardless of whether electronic transplant of memories or some exotic transmigration of the immaterial self in quantum states. Thus, possessing the memories and mental states of an alleged ensoulled person is not considered to be an authentic sign of ensoulment.

Summing up, an ensoulled person likely would possess the following qualities:

1. Alive

2. Able to dream

3. Self-Aware Sentient with subjective experience.

4. Free will

5. Emotions

6. Empathy and Sympathy

7. Abstract thought

8. Imagination

9. Faith and Love

10. Possess a sense of humour, including specifically understanding irony and other abstract humours.

11. Possess a moral compass, able make free-willed ability to make moral judgements and decisions

An unsoulled person would probably not dream, lack self-awareness and sentience, be unimaginative, have no sense of humour, be incapable of abstract thought, have only reactive emotions such as response to pain, lack empathy or sympathy, be faithless and be incapable of love, likely would have no free will and not be able to make moral judgements.

Much of these are on a continuum scale and not yes or no. Certain low levels of empathy for example can be simulated by a machine, as can certain emotions, self-awareness, etc. Usually there is a preponderance of evidence which draws the conclusion of soullessness.

Such an unsoulled person is what is known as a Gelem. A Gelem is formerly an ensouled person who had their soul removed, usually for the purposes of being soldiers. This is not to be confused with Golems which are typically artificial beings made without benefit of a soul.

Article 29.8 of the Shadow Proclamation, specifically prohibits the use and creation of Gelem.