Ship of Theseus

From Wikinfo

The Ship of Theseus is a replacement paradox. (Also known as Theseus' Paradox)

According to an ancient Greek legend, Theseus had a warship that was preserved as a historical relic by the Athenians. Some of its boards rotted and had to be replaced. After many, many years, many such replacements occurred. Eventually, none of the original boards were present. Philosophers could then debate whether it was the same ship that Theseus had used, and if not, when it had ceased to be so.

There is also an additional question: if the replaced parts were stored in a warehouse and later used to reconstruct the ship, which--if either--would be the original ship of Theseus? Thomas Hobbes later used the legend as an epistemological problem to be avoided, and more recently, Otto Neurath and W. V. Quine cited it more as a de facto condition of human knowlege.

See also identity and change.

References

• Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Ship_of_Theseus" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus, used under the GNU Free Documentation License