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12/8/2016 8:35:12 PM
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Thought Experiment: The Ship of Theseus

It is a new ship once any piece is replaced

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It is a new ship once all pieces are replaced

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It's the same ship no matter how many replacements

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This is one of my favorite philosophical questions. At what point is something different? [quote]The ship of Theseus, also known as Theseus' paradox, is a thought experiment that raises the question of whether an object that has had all of its components replaced remains fundamentally the same object. The paradox is most notably recorded by Plutarch in Life of Theseus from the late first century. Plutarch asked whether a ship that had been restored by replacing every single wooden part remained the same ship.[/quote] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

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  • Can they make another one with the old parts?

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  • I think of it like building a Lego set. If I built a castle out of yellow legos but replaced each yellow Lego with a green one, it still remains the same castle.

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    • Same boat, Even if they didn't replace but just made a boat with the exact same parts it's the same boat.

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    • In the most literal sense, the middle choice is correct. The way I think of it is that when there are no longer any original components, then it can no longer be the original creation. However, given that the new creation is indistinguishable from the original, it is pretty much the same thing as the original (in short, both creations are different yet the same). I also think people use the cells in the human body idea because they're afraid of what it means if they aren't the same.

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    • Are we different people once all of our cells are completely replaced? The same idea should apply.

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      • Is this still the same flood?

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      • Same ship no matter how many replacements. When all of my cells have been replaced, I'm still me. As long as it isn't a complete replacement instantaneously, as far as I'm concerned it's the same ship.

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        • I think people are placing their own definition on new, as far as the wording of the options go. The point is, is something different if there is a change? Of course.

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        • Arguing semantics is fun. It's a different ship. It's the same ship. It isn't a ship.

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          • Edited by SirBlackened: 12/9/2016 6:23:10 PM
            As long as you call it the ship, it is is still the ship. Because all that matters is what you want

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            • If all parts are replaced at the same time it is a new ship

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              • Why wouldn't it be the same ship?

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                • I see the paradox, and refuse to answer. It's not a simple yes or no question. While the three answers provided are pretty good, they simply don't cover the paradox.

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                  • Would you claim a snake that shredded its skin a different snake? of course not.

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                    • If you replaced every atom of your brain, atom by atom, until you are left with noting but machine parts that function identically to your original brain, is it still the original you? Is it only a copy of you?

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                    • Well you see, if you replaced all pieces at the same time it would be a different ship. But if you replace one piece, it becomes part of the original ship due to the fact the other pieces are part of the original ship too. Then if you replace all the pieces except the other piece that was replaced, it's still the original ship because the one piece makes it so

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                    • It's always the same ship It has always been built without self control.

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                    • Someone backs into my car in a parking lot and KO's the front bumper. So I get a new bumper. Preferably OEM. Same car. The engine in my car dies. Say I have a 1986 Toyota Corolla. If I replaced it with [i]exactly[/i] the same parts that came out of it. Same car. Important bit there, I feel. "Exactly the same". My car got stolen. So I decide to build it nut for bolt from scratch. Exact spec. It might be "new". But it is ultimately the same as the one that got stolen. Same car. However, if I replace the engine in that Corolla with and S2000 engine, it becomes a fundementally different car. As soon as you replace a part with something that isn't original spec, it then begins to become something different. I feel like that's a purist argument though. Some people are of the mind that as long as the chassis is maintained, it's fundementally the same car. I don't quite buy that because if you take heart out, and replace it with something different, the characteristics are altered. The personality changes. That's a different ship in my book.

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                      • Aristotle covered this subject way before Plutarch.

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                      • It becomes a new ship. If every part is replaced, then the old ship is the pieces that were removed while the new ship is obviously the one that replaced it.

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                      • If the shell remains the original, the ship remains the same no matter how many parts are swapped

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                      • It becomes a new ship. I did it with my ar15. I slowly replaced every part when customizing it then when I was done all of the old parts were assembled back into the old rifle. Now I have 2. How can it be the same rifle if I have the one built of replacement parts and the original. They cant both be the original gun.

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                        • As an expansion of this question we should discuss the way teleporters work in star trek. When Kirk steps into a teleporter he is disassembled at the atomic level and rebuilt by different atoms at a different node of the teleporter. So, if Kirk is disassembled he dies and when he's reassembled with different atoms is he really still Kirk?

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                          • It's a different ship.

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                          • Or you could just accidentally set the ship on fire and let the insurance get you a brand new ship....

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                          • ️️

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