When Souls Had Wings represents the first attempt to trace a history of “pre-heaven,” the idea that the human soul (or spirit) had an existence prior to its mortal birth. Philosophers from Plato through Leibniz and Kant to J. E. M. McTaggart, thinkers in Jewish and Christian traditions, and poets from the seventeenth century to Robert Frost have propounded a transcendent realm peopled by the souls of humans yet unborn. This book documents the presence of this idea historically and investigates its meaning for those who embrace it, the reasons for its prevalence, the literary, cult ... More

When Souls Had Wings represents the first attempt to trace a history of “pre-heaven,” the idea that the human soul (or spirit) had an existence prior to its mortal birth. Philosophers from Plato through Leibniz and Kant to J. E. M. McTaggart, thinkers in Jewish and Christian traditions, and poets from the seventeenth century to Robert Frost have propounded a transcendent realm peopled by the souls of humans yet unborn. This book documents the presence of this idea historically and investigates its meaning for those who embrace it, the reasons for its prevalence, the literary, cultural, ideological, and theological functions that is has served, and the reasons for its demise or disappearance at various times in Western history. Preexistence, or pre-mortal existence, has been invoked to explain the human yearning for transcendence and the sublime, as well as the sensation of alienation and the indelible sadness of human existence. Preexistence has been invoked to account for why we know what we should not know, and to account for the unevenly distributed pain and suffering that are humanity's common lot. The idea suggests a reason for uncannily instantaneous bonds between friends and between lovers, and many philosophers have found in premortality the precondition for a genuinely free will. The impressive scope of the intellectual work it does, and the pantheon of thinkers who have appealed to its explanatory power, explain the resilience of an idea that at last receives here its own historical treatment.