Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson

Even before our arrival, many beings in Babylon had lost their minds over this subject, while many others were inching closer to the same fate. The "burning question" of the day, the question that wracked the brains of both "pitiful scientists" and normal beings of Babylon was this: "Do we have a soul or not?" There were all sorts of the most fantastic theories on this subject, with new ones appearing all the time, and each and every one of the "tempting hypotheses" had its supporters. Despite the overwhelming number and diversity of these beliefs, they were all based on one of two completely opposing premises. The first was called "atheism," while the other was "idealism" or "dualism." All duelistic hypothesis held the soul existed and, of course, that it was immortal and could suffer many things even after the death of the being. Meanwhile, the atheistic theories held the complete opposite view. In short, my boy, when we came to Babylon, we came upon what could only be called "constructing the Tower of Babel."