Some Points Regarding The Concept Of The Soul In The History Of Philosophy

Abstract

The problem of the soul is and has been of the greatest importance in philosophy. Man does not want to face death with the thought that his body placed in a tomb will become a feast for worms, or that after a short time the bare skull which was once borne so proudly or that the dismembered limbs which once obeyed the orders of his will are now just matter and the end. Man rather thinks in terms of immortality knowing that he must die, but knowing that death is only the beginning of a higher life for him. This dissertation will endeavor to show what the different philosophers had to say regarding the soul, and that philosophical speculation on the matter was brought to a wonderful culmination in the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas.