The Ship Of Theseus

> In the metaphysics of identity, the ship of Theseus 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.

I looked through the article and the possible answers to this very old question, but I couldn’t find anyone sharing what I immediately thought the answer was.

Once a part is replaced, it immediately becomes a part of the ship — it’s place on the ship is now given meaning and intention by the rest of the parts on the ship. Most parts have no particular unique identity, they are interchangeable. The particular combination of parts, plus its purpose, as Aristotle mentions (“ Aristotle’s causes is the ‘end’ or final cause, which is the intended purpose of a thing”) are what gives a ship its identity. The combination remains the same, the purpose remains the same as well.

Once the new part is added, and it fits and serves the same purpose, now it becomes “senior” in regard to future additions/replacements of parts. It is now a part of the ship, just as eligible as the rest of the parts, as it hasn’t changed the ship’s general plan or purpose (unless it is of different material that somehow modifies the ship’s behavior).

Once another new part is added, it also falls under the same circumstances.

The only way a ship’s identity can be changed, would be if the vast majority of parts are replaced simultaneously. Then one might argue that this is no longer the same ship, because it has been replaced by another ship that now contains small batches of the original one.

Did you know that our cells die and are replaced automatically by our body? And every few years a complete cycle has completed and all of the cells in our body weren’t there several years ago? Has our identity changed? I don’t think so. Because identity isn’t something that depends upon each particular detail. Identify is given by the whole.