Editing Soul (section)

===Contemporary philosophy===
The notion of soul often relies on a theory called [[Mind–body dualism|mind-body dualism]], which posits that [[Mind|mental]] phenomena are [[Non-physical entity|non-physical]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dualism and Mind |url=https://iep.utm.edu/dualism-and-mind/ |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |language=en-US}}</ref> If body and soul (or mind) are of two distinct realms, the question remains how these two are related. Contemporary [[philosophy of mind]] distinguishes three major dualist theories about the relationship between mental properties and the body: [[interactionism]], [[Psychophysical parallelism|parallelism]], and [[epiphenomenalism]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite SEP|url-id=Dualism|title=Dualism|first=Howard|last=Robinson|date=2023}}</ref> Non-dualist theories include [[physicalism]], the view that everything is physical.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Physicalism |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/physicalism/ |website=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|date=2024 }}</ref>

Interactionism holds that physical events and mental events interact with each other. This view is often considered to be the most intuitive: one perceives the mind reacting upon physical stimulation and then thoughts and feelings act upon the physical body, such as by moving it. Thus, humans are naturally inclined in favor of interactionism.<ref name=":3" /> The [[Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] states, "[t]he critical feature of interactionism is its commitment to 'two-way' causation – mental-to-physical causation and physical-to-mental causation."<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=Mental Causation |url=https://iep.utm.edu/mental-c/#SH1ci |access-date=2025-04-11 |website=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |language=en-US}}</ref>

Parallelism sidesteps debates about mind-body interaction by proposing that both operate in parallel. Under this framework, mental and physical events do not causally influence one another; they merely coincide. When causation occurs, it is strictly confined within each domain: mental events only trigger or result from other mental events, and physical events exclusively cause or are caused by other physical events.<ref name=":7" />

Epiphenomenalism posits that physical events generate mental events, but mental events themselves lack causal power—they cannot influence physical events or even other mental phenomena. This stance partially accommodates interactionism by permitting causation in a single direction (physical to mental), thereby rejecting parallelism, which denies any causal link between the two realms. In this framework, the mind is likened to a bodily shadow: while the body actively produces effects, the mind is merely a passive byproduct, incapable of driving outcomes or interactions.<ref name=":7" />