Well, in short - in the context of the series the soul is real (plent of evidence for that), but what it does is totally variable (easiest example: soullless Angel vs. soulless Spike) and never actually defined in any concrete way. It's there, but no-one really seems to know what it does. There are all sorts of ideas about it, just like there are all sorts of ideas about religion, but it's never made really concrete. Even Harmony countermands the Angel/Angelus model.
This gets a bit into my view of Spuffy too, and also about my view on Buffy/Angel - you remember that bit in BtVS S3 where Angel comes back from "hell," or wherever he was, and Buffy hides him, and then Xander finds out and they hold this huge intervention? Xander accuses Buffy of "wanting to forget all about Ms Calendar so you can have your boyfriend back." The show does nothing to convince you that this point of view is not true. Her only defense is the same one she uses for Spike, in S7, that Angel has a soul whereas he didn't when he killed Ms Calendar. The parallel isn't made explicit, but it's there.
Point is - and this is why I would have liked to have seen it explored more, in Buffy's relationship with soulless Spike - Buffy wanted to forgive Angel. She does want her boyfriend back. The soul gives her a reason to claim it's okay, when if she ever really gave any thought to Angelus's career (same for Spike), she'd have never even entertained the idea of getting into a relationship with him. Soul = get out of blame card.
But it doesn't get anyone out of blame, does it? Your burden is still your burden - that's what I took away from "Hellbound" and later, "Damage." You can't just say "well, I didn't have a soul then, did I?" It's an excuse, sure... but it doesn't fix anything.
That's probably not making a ton of sense, but the message I got was "So you have a soul. Now what are you gonna do with it? Especially since you don't really know what it does or what it means?"
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This gets a bit into my view of Spuffy too, and also about my view on Buffy/Angel - you remember that bit in BtVS S3 where Angel comes back from "hell," or wherever he was, and Buffy hides him, and then Xander finds out and they hold this huge intervention? Xander accuses Buffy of "wanting to forget all about Ms Calendar so you can have your boyfriend back." The show does nothing to convince you that this point of view is not true. Her only defense is the same one she uses for Spike, in S7, that Angel has a soul whereas he didn't when he killed Ms Calendar. The parallel isn't made explicit, but it's there.
Point is - and this is why I would have liked to have seen it explored more, in Buffy's relationship with soulless Spike - Buffy wanted to forgive Angel. She does want her boyfriend back. The soul gives her a reason to claim it's okay, when if she ever really gave any thought to Angelus's career (same for Spike), she'd have never even entertained the idea of getting into a relationship with him. Soul = get out of blame card.
But it doesn't get anyone out of blame, does it? Your burden is still your burden - that's what I took away from "Hellbound" and later, "Damage." You can't just say "well, I didn't have a soul then, did I?" It's an excuse, sure... but it doesn't fix anything.
That's probably not making a ton of sense, but the message I got was "So you have a soul. Now what are you gonna do with it? Especially since you don't really know what it does or what it means?"