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THE NATURE OF HUMAN SOUL

The discussion on the nature of human soul necessarily requires recognition of man’s
inherent nature as a free, thinking being. The fact that we know things and can affirm them (or will
them) shows that the constitution of our being is different from all other organisms in this world.
We begin our discussion with the human person’s unique faculties of knowing and willing -
intellect and will - upon which we base our knowledge on the nature of the human soul.

Intellect
Animals perceive things. But when they perceive a thing, they only perceive its accidental
characteristics, not its essential nature. They only see that it is brown, that it smells nice, that it
tastes good, that it is quite big, but they do not know it as a “cake”. They do not have ideas. They
only have perception. They only ‘sense’, but they do not ‘grasp’.
We, human beings, know things. When we perceive a thing we do not only perceive its
accidental characteristics (its color, shape, taste, smell), but we also grasp its essential nature.
We do not only have perception; we also have ideas. We ‘grasp’ the essence of any object that
passes through our ‘senses’.
We are not just ‘higher’ kinds of animals. We are a totally different kind of being. Animals
perceive the external world, but they do not know it. We, on the other hand, perceive and know
the external world.
Animals only have senses. But we do not only have senses; we have INTELLECT.
Senses are essentially material; that is, my sight depends upon my eye, my hearing on my
ear, my feeling on my skin, my taste on my tongue, my smelling on my nose.
Intellect, on the other hand, is immaterial. This means that when I grasp the essence of a
thing, this ‘grasping’ is independent of my senses. When I have an idea of “chair”, even if I do not
see a chair, I still understand what a chair means.
If intellect is immaterial, then it is not the ‘power’ of the material body since the body is
material.

Will
An animal’s action is determined by its natural inclination. For example, the natural inclination
of ants is to make a colony; the natural inclination of a male horse is to mate; the natural
inclination of a carabao is to soak itself in the mud. Animals do not have the ‘power’ to alter their
natural inclination. An ant cannot choose to be alone instead of making a colony, or a male horse
to ignore a female horse, or carabao to bathe itself under the sun. They may alter their actions but
such alternation is not brought by a free will. For instance, a male horse may ignore a female
horse not because it ‘decides’ to do so but because it may have been influenced by some other
stimuli like fear of another male horse that is on sight. In other words, animals do not choose what
they are to do.
Human beings, too, have natural inclinations. However, a human being can choose not to be
determined by these inclinations. For example, one of our natural inclinations is to eat food.
However, even if we are so hungry, we may choose not to eat. Another, we are naturally inclined
for sexual intercourse. But some of us choose not to engage in it in the name of some higher
purpose like what priests and other chaste individuals do. Therefore, our natural inclination does
not determine our action.
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This is because we have WILL. This means that we do not only desire things but we also have
the power to choose things to desire.
When animals move into the objects that cause pleasure and move away from those that
cause pain, this movement is materially determined, since what causes pleasure or pain, causes
it to the body. It is pleasurable precisely because it is pleasurable to the body and painful because
it is painful to the body. Hence, what is pleasurable or painful is what determines an animal to do
a certain action. For example, a cat goes near the table and attempts to steal the fish (pleasure),
but then later withdraws the attempt because the owner is there (pain). Therefore, an animal’s
action is materially determined.
This is not the case with human beings. Even if something is pleasurable, we have the power
to choose not to get it; or, even if something causes us pain, we have the power to choose to bear
it. Hence, we are not materially determined in our action. Therefore, our will is immaterial.
The Human Soul
The human person has intellect and will. Since intellect and will are immaterial, then they do
not exist or inhere in the body, since the body is material (no material cause can produce
immaterial effect). Moreover, intellect and will are not substances, but accidents. This means that
intellect and will do not exist in themselves. We do not encounter a being which is an intellect or a
being which is a will. They are like colors – we do not see, for example, a color red in itself; what
we see is a substance that is of color red. Likewise, we do not encounter intellect and will in
themselves; what we do encounter are beings who have intellect and will – human beings.
Therefore, intellect and will, since they are accidents, necessarily need to inhere into something,
and since they do not inhere in the body which is material, therefore, they inhere into something
that is immaterial – we call it the soul.
Why can’t we just say that intellect and will exist in the human person, and not in the soul?
This question is misleading since it treats “soul” and “human person” as two different substances.
The human soul is a substantial form which informs matter (body) that makes a being a human
person. The soul is not the human person but is in the human person, the very principle that
makes a particular being a human person. Therefore, if the intellect and will inhere in the soul,
and the soul is that which makes a particular being a human person, it follows that intellect and
will are faculties or ‘powers’ of the soul that makes a being a human person. In other words,
intellect and will inhere in human person because they inhere in the soul.
If intellect and will are accidents, and that they need a substance into which they inhere, and
that substance is the soul, and the soul exists or inheres in the human person, are we not
presupposing something absurd here? If the soul is a substance, and the human person is also a
substance, and the soul inheres in the human person, then a substance (soul) inhere in another
substance (human person)? But only accidents inhere in a substance. And since substances exist
in themselves, they do not need to inhere into something in order to exist. Hence, we are led to
conclude that the soul as a substance exists apart from the human person.
The conclusion above is misled. The soul is that which makes a being a human person.
Without the soul, there is no human person. The human person is precisely a substance because
of the soul which is united to primary matter. However, this does not alter the fact that a human
soul is an immaterial soul which is capable of inhering immaterial faculties like intellect and will.
Therefore, the soul exists in the human person in that it is that which makes a being a human
person. But we must add: within the soul exists intellect and will.
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1. The human soul is spiritual. The spiritual nature of the soul is very evident in
consciousness. Since the time when I was still a child until now, I can say that my
consciousness or awareness of myself does not change. All the cells in my brain and even
in my entire body have been changed and modified; but even then, since the beginning of
my existence until now I am still the same me. Whenever and wherever, there has been
the same me who have experienced many different things. But this is not true of matter.
Matter can be modified and be formed into something else. Even elements like gold and
silver can be turned into a watch or a necklace. A gold that was a stone before and a gold
that is now a watch are not identical. But the ‘me’ who was scolded by my mother because
of stepping inside the fridge, the ‘me’ who fell in love, the ‘me’ who graduated college, the
‘me’ who writes this article, and the ‘me’ who will die, is always identical. My physique, my
perspectives, my personality, and my life may change, but it will always be the same ‘me’.
Therefore, there must be something in my constitution as a human person that does not
change. It cannot be my body since it is material. It must be something immaterial or
spiritual. We call it the soul.
2. The human soul is simple. My body is not simple since it is composed of parts like head,
arms, legs, stomach, etc. Just as the body is composed of different parts so too does it
perform different functions. My ear functions to make me hear; my eyes to make me see;
my legs to make me walk. But despite this diversity of parts, there is still the same ‘me’
who hear, see, and walk. Therefore, there must be something in me which is simple and is
not composed of any part but that which unites every part of me to make me a one living
organism. This is the soul.
3. The human soul is immortal. Death is different from annihilation. Death means
disintegration of parts or decomposition. My body can be disintegrated and decomposed,
so it dies. Annihilation means total non-existence. If my body dies, it becomes dust or
earth – it turns into something else. If my body is annihilated there is no dust nor earth to
turn into. Nothing in my body will exist. Death is only proper to material beings because
material beings (plants, animals, human beings) can be disintegrated and decomposed.
However, since the soul is immaterial and has no parts, it cannot be disintegrated nor
decomposed. It is immortal. Since the beginning of my existence until now with my face
changed, my knees breaking, my muscles strained, my hair turning white, there has been
the same ‘me’. I was not disintegrated nor decomposed, and never will I be. Hence, even
in the state of death, the human soul, the one who enunciates ‘me’, would still exist
granted that it is not annihilated. Annihilation can only be done by God. God who is
infinitely perfect, immutable, and eternal, does not change, nor does he change his mind.
By the very fact that God creates a soul that cannot be decomposed, then by nature’s
testimony God wills that the soul would exist forever. That means, since God does not
change his mind, he does not create an immortal soul and then annihilate it later on. The
human soul, then, is immortal. What happens to the soul after death might be forever
unknown.
4. The human soul is directly created by God. Human soul is contingent; that is, it may
have not existed but it still did. Therefore, there was a time when the soul did not exist.
That was when we were not yet born. But the human soul in fact exists: ‘me’ exists.
Therefore, there must be something that brought the soul into existence. Since the soul is
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spiritual, no material activity can bring it into existence. Our parents’ sexual union did not
create the soul. Only God who is a pure spiritual being can create a spiritual being like the
human soul. The soul is directly created by God because it is God alone who does the
activity of creating the human soul. The human person is indirectly created by God
because it is God’s and the parents’ activity who brought forth his existence.