ABSTRACT
The concept of the soul probably dates back to humanity’s earliest attempts to understand the nature and fate of living things and may even be older than homo sapiens sapiens. The Neanderthals’ ritual burial of their dead may reflect a belief in the continued existence, within or beyond the grave, of some component of the deceased person. From the earliest dynasties of ancient Egyptian civilization to the twentieth century, theologians, philosophers, and scientists have assumed the presence of an animating principle in living things and sought to discover whether it was material or immaterial, mortal or immortal, limited to individuals or shared with the world at large. The widely held belief that each human being possesses a soul that survives the death of the body profoundly affected both religious and moral teaching, as well as efforts to understand the physiological, emotional, and intellectual aspects of human life. The concerns of religious inquirers regarding this issue were largely distinct from the concerns of natural philosophers and scientists. Because few individuals pursued both lines of inquiry, reconciliation of the religious soul and the scientific soul has been rarely attempted.
