What is the 'ship of Theseus' thought experiment?

[admin]

The Greek writer Plutarch proposed this question: If a ship's planks are replaced over time due to wear and tear until none of the original pieces remain, is it still the same ship?

What is the 'ship of Theseus' thought experiment? : Read more

 

[ogrfnkl]

"Theseus' ship" is merely a FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION of all of its material components (or, rather, the thinker's sensory and/or imaginal representations thereof) as it exists at any point in time in the mind of the thinker. For example, if all of the ship's planks, whether the original ones or their replacements, were to be dismantled and thrown into a pile, the latter could no longer be considered as "Theseus' ship," even though all the components of what the ship used to be are still present, as these components no longer perform the function described by the word "ship." In this sense, the ship is but a consensual mental representation, loosely shared by one or more thinkers, of an assembly of objects that serve a particular purpose. Whether or not that qualifies as an "illusion" would be up for debate.

 

[Chris Crawford]

I'd suggest that this is a semantic problem, not a philosophical problem. We're trying to squeeze a set of circumstances into a term into which they just don't fit. Like an overweight person trying to fit into a too-small item of clothing, we twist and turn and squeeze and contort in our efforts. The solution to our dressing problem is to get another item of clothing. Instead of wondering which of the two ships is the "real" ship, we need to acknowledge that there are two entities. One is a functioning ship made out of recent material, and the other is a collection of parts that were once part of a functioning ship. Arguing over which ship is the original ship is an exercise in silliness. Just acknowledge the reality of the situation and get on with life.

 

[derekamoss]

Kinda off topic. There is a book called "S". by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst. It's ARPG actually where you have come across a library book called, Ship of Thesus where two individuals make notes on the book pages trying to figure out who the true author is. The book itself is interesting enough. It also includes codes and puzzles you can decipher. Every time I hear about Ship of Thesus I think of this book. Really a lot of fun.

 

[indianfoodyummy]

I think the answer is best provided by 2 measures:
1) If this is Theseus' Ship... at any point that Theseus is present as owner, the description of any variant is correctly described. Functionally, this does allow for multiple ships, although realistically, only one ship of a single identity, prior to his last visit/command of "the" ship
2) whenever the object (i.e. the ship) retains A) a majority of parts comprising the state being measured (i.e. is it a ship) or B) if the original authority of state (i.e. owner/Theseus) documents a set of components comprising the minimum viable set representing an original unit (e.g. the main mast) of the composable object, ...as of the last moment that condition 1 was measured, it is still the object being measured. Whenever applicable criteria (A or B) cease to be fulfilled, the item becomes "remnants of <the object>". Note that you can have multiple sets of remnants, or combinations of new materials and remnants, but only one set will fulfill criteria (A or B) at a time.

In the case of humans, consciousness is the minimum viable set.
I think the thought experiment is flawed in that it assumes you can replace a majority of a thing, and also not meet the <presence of Theseus> requirement, and still refer to it as the same reference.