Publisher's Synopsis
What will your soul's gender be in heaven, and will you have a body? Will your pet Harry's soul be there? Could your clone have a soul, and will you be able to upload your soul to a computer at some point? Will eternity be fun? What is it with the ghosts and spirits of loved ones? A Natural History of the Soul makes a challenging topic accessible through an entertaining and readable exploration.
It begins by reviewing beliefs about the soul and the afterlife in our popular culture and the arts, and traces changes across human evolution. It looks at the characteristics of the soul as they have emerged within the animal kingdom and considers whether there will be animals in heaven. The archeological evidence shows how the evolution of religion and ideas about the soul and life after death helped shape cultures and civilizations. Our stories about death and dying, ghosts and spirits, and even near-death experiences have a long history. A Natural History of the Soul shows how they are the seeds of what we believe today and the rituals that give meaning and structure to our lives.
Comparing religions suggests that while each has unique views about the soul and the afterlife, there are common themes as well. Religious theology defining who we are and our future, of course, has also been influenced by developing philosophical ideas about the soul, the self, and conscious experience. The relationship between the philosophy of the soul and theology of the afterlife are explored in A Natural History of the Soul. Religious beliefs about the soul and the afterlife (including what we will be spending our time doing through eternity) have a lot to say about how we should live life now to have a better life after death. These ideas, in turn, have influenced and been influenced by the Enlightenment and the subsequent developments in science, and especially the emergence of the field of psychology. The discussion of the soul, self, consciousness, and moral decisions, and how they may relate to the brain and our bodies, reflects the ongoing dance between science and religion.
Thinking about the soul, death, and future lives, of course, should be informed by our latest understanding of physics and the nature of reality, evolutionary biology, and neuroscience. A Natural History of the Soul highlights breakthroughs in areas like medicine, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence that are challenging some of our ideas about the soul and the afterlife. As we test our ideas in this rapidly changing world and the difficult decisions we face, they will become refined. To help this process, provocative questions are raised throughout the book as examples to help clarify your own beliefs about your soul and our future, and inform emerging social policy debates. The book is brimming with surprising facts, stories, and diverse opinions worthy of hours of speculation over dinner with friends and family.
