section_path: Religious views
section_name: Religious views
paragraph_text: Religious views
  
  In Judaism and in some Christian denominations, only human beings have immortal souls. Immortality is disputed within Judaism and the concept of immortality was most likely influenced by Plato. For example, Thomas Aquinas, borrowing directly from Aristotle 's On the Soul, attributed "soul" (anima) to all organisms but argued that only human souls are immortal. Other religions (most notably Hinduism and Jainism) believe that all living things from the smallest bacterium to the largest of mammals are the souls themselves (Atman and jiva) and have their physical representative (the body) in the world. The actual self is the soul, while the body is only a mechanism to experience the karma of that life. Thus, if one sees a tiger then there is a self-conscious identity residing in it (the soul), and a physical representative (the whole body of the tiger, which is observable) in the world. Many people believe that non-biological things, such as rivers and mountains, also possess souls. This belief is called animism.