Do you think your doll has a soul?

No, I don't think dolls have souls. I am very much in agreement with neurobiologist Dick Swaab on his theory the human soul is but a current of electricity in the human's body, which sends signals to the brain and lets us do what we do.

Dolls do reflect the owners' personality and are given traits that are more of a fictious nature as the owner sees fit. They are assigned a character-- but no, they don't actually own a soul, in my humble opinion.

 

I would have to say that no, i don't believe that my doll has a soul. I respect people that do believe that, however i just can't subscribe.

 

Theodore has a soul and I'm sure my doll-chateau doll will as well.

 

Of course they have souls
I think they have all a personal character, they can think, they can like or hate something... then, yep.
I think they just can't move, sadly XD

 

If you have a search around there's a pretty lengthy thread on this topic already that covers a lot of interesting opinions on the subject.

Personally no, I don't think dolls have souls. While I can understand how it's easy to perceive them as lifelike because of their looks and the fact some venture into uncanny valley with their realistic aesthetics I don't think it's possible for an inanimate, plastic doll no matter how pretty it is, to have a 'soul'.

 

I do not believe dolls have souls, as they are man-made objects. However I feel that they have a sort of presence, especially because of all the love and devotion we put into them. Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, surprised me quite thoroughly because they veered away from the whole cyborg/robot thing, and spoke often of dolls, and the philosophy behind them. I think similar to what megpie252 said, Japanese legend of objects coming to life. Hence my signature quote ^^

 

Here's the big thread about this topic.

I don't even believe people have a soul separate from the mind/brain, so of course I don't think dolls have souls.

 

My dolls have the life that I breathe into them.

I don't believe that they have their own individual souls, but when I look at them and write about them and work on them - well, what am I doing but putting a little piece of my soul into them?

 

I have a very confusing view on this. Dolls having a soul as in a human soul, then no i don't believe that at all. Humans have human souls. I personally feel uncomfortable with the idea of my dolls having actual souls. I also see it as impolite to say other people's personal belief's are wrong because at the end of the day, we can never actually know for sure.

Even baring in mind i did got taught Shinto, and i did take some of those aspects into my own belief's; at best only think they have an essence that reflect off us and that the only thing we see these dolls to act in a way is because we will it so. And i do grow attached and love my dolls, but i also love my PS3 in the same way and got so upset i couldn't speak when it broke down; and i didn't want a new one, i wanted THAT one to be fixed. I got fixed in the end though.

I do joke about them having souls and that they get them of people who subscribe to MMO's like "World of Warcaft" and that the doll companies buy them off the gaming industry. Mainly because i know a lot of people who play those games joke about selling their souls. I know this is a terrible joke, but i am in no way serious about this.

 

I don't think dolls have a soul per say. Our dolls as well as our other loved possessions are what we want them to be every character and story we make up about them is from us and when you put that much care into something it becomes a part of you. So i guess what I'm saying is our dolls don't really have a soul but more of an extension of our own soul.

On the side note my 5stardoll emily, Nami, does seem to change expressions too...

 

I could only afford one soul, so my four dolls had to share. Then one day when it was Fortune's turn, she went out and sold it to the devil. "No more souls for you!" I said.

 

I definitely do think dolls have souls. I have no doubt.

One time I embarrassed my boy, Bia, and when I looked back at him, he looked so sad it actually brought me to tears. I just held him for a little bit and said I was sorry, in a few days he looked better. But it was just, really shocking. Because before I never really believed in that sort of stuff.
I also have this connection with Raziel I swear ._. It's strange, I can't explain it.

 

I believe these things have a soul if we convey them with one. Well, a 'soul' of sorts. A few of mine are OCs that already live in my head, and the resin they have is their branch into the real world, so I can feel them 'alive' in them at times. Even my 'random resins' took up a kind of life of their own, with their personalities and 'behaviours', down to how they interact with each other depending on their apparent 'mood', like, for example, my one and only girl atm wasnt very comfortable with herself until she had been restyled about 3 times, and now she seems very relaxed and comfortable with her partner at last. And *he* seems to be more attracted to her xD It seems bizarre, but they appear to sit together in more relaxed positions than they did before, and not necessarily how I sat them in the first place. xD

 

I take this as anything can have a soul. If the doll was a gift from a loved one who passed away, I see it as a vessel for that particular person's soul that can watch over you. It's sort of a sentiment that is more like the memory of that person indirectly in the form of an object like a BJD. Considering there are alot of stories that involve events that revolve around a single object, there is a reason for those occurances, possibly a soul or some form of energy that has been placed on said object. I guess it would be like destiny to meet that soul.

 

Boy oh boy you know you've been around a while when you see this question pop up for the third time.
(Topics get recycled here in General as new people arrive and ask the same questions. Just how a forum tends to work.)
No, I don't believe man made objects have souls, but they can have an energy about them depending on what it is we put into them. It's pretty hard to get a negative energy about a doll, IMO, but it can be done. It comes out of us though, us and our beliefs and backgrounds. To one person a doll may have a nasty energy about it when to another person it is just cute. I had to sell a mod I made of a Pipos Bao head on an MSD body. He ended up as Coyote, and in my Native American tribal heritage Coyote was not exactly the most benign or trustworthy. (He stole the heart from the fallen body of the Messiah figure and tried to eat it- the other creatures got it back.) Having him around just made me a little uneasy after a while. I don't think he had a soul, but my own vague ideas about Coyote made me edgy and want to give him up.

Also:

LOL!

 

I think that is a very good way of looking at it actually

 

Er.. My bad, this isn't my account~ *deletes post and goes on to own account* I'm SO sorry, please don't penalize my friend. >< It was totally my bad.

 

^^^^ That was my fault, I'm so sorry.

I believe dolls have souls for a few reasons actually! There's an easy to explain reason, and a not so easy to explain reason.

1. I have a belief that anything with "eyes" has a soul. I'm not so much talking eyes that are painted on a rock per say, after all I think all nature has it's own soul to begin with, and say a shirt with eyes doesn't have a soul. But when the eyes are removeable, such as with dolls, or even with some stuffed animals, I think they do have a soul. Mostly because I agree with the statement that "the eyes are the door to the soul". ^^;; So if it has eyes, it has doors, and if it has doors it has a soul. That's why when you look at pictures sometimes it seems like they're watching you, because they're the doors to the soul of the people they are pictures of.

Yes, that was the easy reason. XD

2. I believe that anything that has been created by human hands has a personality, which I believe is partially controlled by one's soul. Therefore, a little piece of each person who personally handled and created my boys is also within them, helping to create a distinct personality from all of them. That's the reason why two computers with the same specs can be completely different, or at least I think so. ^^ This applies to so many things! Anything which comes into contact with humans for a long amount of time, or through the creation process, seems to have a "personality" to me.
(Shorter but more complicated in the long run)

Each of my boys has his own personality, and it seems as though they had it from the moment I opened the box!