In the Buffverse, the soul is used to distinguish human from inhuman and good from evil. Yet the series offers examples that make a coherent ontology of the soul difficult. I propose that the soul, if defined functionally, is equivalent to internalized authority. When vampires sire one another, the sired is supposed to lose her soul. The memories of the previous inhabitant remain, but all else is supposed to leave. Vampire-Willow, however, is a lesbian. This is a defining characteristic of Willow’s personality. Spike has a connection to William’s mother that one would not expect a demon to have. Harmony still feels concern for her best friend Cordelia. Even without souls they maintain personality traits unique to the body they inhabit. The soul is therefore not the root of personality.

So what does the soul do? Its only unique function is conscience, guilt or remorse; and these in accordance with contemporary ethical norms. The soul in the Buffyverse is, therefore, substantial since it does possess the body, but it is only internalized authority. If this is so, what is Spike’s chip other than an artificial soul equivalent to the disciplinary action of a parent? If the soul is substantial internalized authority, and if the soul is what is supposed to make one who one is, then what does this say about the nature of humanity? Is the person merely the aggregate of their social relations, internalized norms? Is there more to the person? Buffy suggests as much when even without friends…she maintains that she still is Buffy. Through the problem of the soul in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I intend to investigate the nature of selfhood.