This week, we’ll be considering some of the great thought experiments of philosophy.  We begin with the Ship of Theseus.

Plutarch, in his work The Life of Theseus, recounts a debate among the philosophers over whether or not a ship that has had all of its components replaced one by one would remain the same ship.  Today, I pose this longstanding, philosophical question to you:

Imagine a great ship, the ship used by Theseus to rescue the children of Athens from King Minos and the minotaur.  Each year, the Athenians take the ship out on the sea to commemorate the occasion of the rescue.  Over time, a few of the ship’s wooden planks decay and have to be replaced; one year, the mast is damaged and a new one installed in its place; later, the bow and stern are reconstructed, and so on, until eventually, not one of the original pieces of the ship remains—each and every part has been replaced at some point along the way.

Is the ship still the ship of Theseus?  What do you think?

Have a wonderful day.