In philosophy terminology, what is the difference between the self and the soul? When philosophers argue against the existence of the self, are they really doing something much different than when they argue against the existence of the soul? Can you recommend any books that make this clear?

Thephilosophical problem of personal identity is an attempt to determine what a self , or person , is. Asatisfactory definition will tell us what makes someone the same self (orperson) over time. And this inturn will enable us to know whether it is possible for a self (or person) tosurvive after death. Onecommon understanding of what a person is is this: a person is a union of ananimal body and an immaterial soul. My soul would seem to be what is essential to who I am, and since it isdistinct from my mortal body, there is a possibility that I (my soul) couldsurvive the death of my body. Thisis one of the main conclusions Descartes tries to establish in his Meditations on First Philosophy . Oneproblem with Descartes’s notion of the soul is that it is quite thin. For Descartes, the soul is the seat ofthought – it is that which thinks. Locke points out that if a person’s soul is simply that which thinks,and if...