Feeling in the soul
The delusion of the "soul" is a curious one, like most religious delusions. We are asked to believe that there is some kind of immaterial cloud in our head which is the real "self" (whatever that means) and guides our material brain into thinking, feeling and acting. For the longest period in history, theologians have argued over the location of the soul. For Descartes, the contact point between brain and soul was located in the pineal gland.
This soul persists even after our death, since it is immaterial and therefore incorruptible - or so we are asked to believe, even though this is a blatant absurdity. But never mind. We should rather start by asking, what is this soul supposed to do ?
Various theories have been proposed, from the expansive "all conscious brain functions" to a small set of functions such as reasoning, the imagination and memory. Without memory, one can hardly claim the continuity of experience that seems to be the salient feature of life, without reasoning one cannot grasp anything, and without imagination little abstract thought is possible - therefore it seems reasonable to take these three properties as a starting point.
The obvious problem with such assertions is that, plainly speaking, it contradicts established science. These properties have all been observed and tested as being the role of various parts of the brain.
Long-term remembrance of information is predicated on the perirhinal cortex (which keeps the context of the memory) and the hippocampus (which keeps the memory itself). Short-term memory is contained in the temporal lobe, while muscle memory is contained in the frontal lobe. The frontal lobe is an integral part in our capacity to reason. Without it, we lose mental flexibility and the capacity to focus. The main site for the imagination is the prefrontal association area, a region near the ear.
Given these facts, what is left for the soul ? Without memory, reasoning or imagination, how could it ever be "us" in any sense whatsoever ?
Apart from simple-minded religious denial, there is little leeway to deal with this rebuttal. It has been argued, however, that the soul may still exist in parallel with the body. That is to say, that change in the physical mind coexists with change in the immaterial soul. This argument has also been used to explain the supposed existence of "astral bodies".
However, this leads us nowhere. Since all the features we are examining can be explained by the brain, this soul has no explanatory power. It is superfluous, and thus per Occam's Razor it is irrational to posit its existence.
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