INTRODUCTION.

The text begins mid-sentence, continuing the definition of the vital principle from the previous page.

...organic beings have within them an internal force that produces the phenomenon of life as long as this force exists; that material life is common to all organic beings and is independent of intelligence and thought; that intelligence and thought are faculties specific to certain organic species; finally, that among the organic species endowed with intelligence and thought, there is one endowed with a special moral sense that gives it an unquestionable superiority over the others: the human species.

One can see that with such a multifaceted meaning, the word "soul" excludes neither materialismThe belief that nothing exists except matter and its movements. nor pantheismThe belief that the universe is identical with divinity, or that all things compose an all-encompassing, immanent god.. Even the spiritualistIn this context, someone who believes in the existence of an immaterial soul. can very well understand the soul according to either of the first two definitions, without prejudice to the distinct immaterial being to which they will then give some other name. Thus, this word is not the representative of a single opinion; it is a Proteus In Greek mythology, Proteus was a sea god capable of changing his shape at will; here, it refers to a word that changes meaning depending on who uses it. that everyone fits to their own liking; hence the source of so many endless disputes.

Confusion would also be avoided, even while using the word soul in all three cases, by adding a qualifier that would specify the point of view from which it is considered, or the application being made of it. It would then be a generic word, representing at once the principle of material life, intelligence, and moral sense, and which would be distinguished by an attribute—much like gases, for example, which are distinguished by adding the words hydrogen, oxygen, or nitrogen. We could therefore say, and this would perhaps be best: the vital soul for the principle of material life; the intellectual soul for the principle of intelligence; and the spirit soul for the principle of our individuality after death. As we can see, all of this is a matter of words, but a very important matter for mutual understanding. According to this, the vital soul would be common to all organic beings: plants, animals, and humans; the intellectual soul would be specific to animals and humans; and the spirit soul would belong to humans alone.

We felt it necessary to insist all the more on these explanations because the Spiritist doctrine The specific philosophical and scientific system regarding spirits, their communication, and the afterlife, as codified by Allan Kardec. naturally rests on the existence within us of a being independent of matter and surviving the body. Since the word soul must appear frequently in the course of this work, it was important to be clear on the meaning we attach to it in order to avoid any misunderstanding.