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Single Idea 4198
[filed under theme 9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 9. Ship of Theseus
]
Full Idea
If we say that up to 5% of a ship's parts can be replaced without the ship ceasing to exist, we could replace 4% and then 4% again, and it would retain its identity, if identity is transitive.
Clarification
Identity is 'transitive' means if a is b, and b is c, the a must be c
Gist of Idea
If 5% replacement preserves a ship, we can replace 4% and 4% again, and still retain the ship
Source
E.J. Lowe (A Survey of Metaphysics [2002], p.26)
Book Ref
Lowe,E.J.: 'A Survey of Metaphysics' [OUP 2002], p.26
A Reaction
One suspected that all attempts at precision with the ship of Theseus were doomed, but this nicely demonstrates it.
The
19 ideas
with the same theme
[does his ship remain if its parts are steadily changed?]:
16516
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The ship which Theseus took to Crete is now sent to Delos crowned with flowers
[Plato]
|
1212
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Replacing timbers on Theseus' ship was the classic illustration of the problem of growth and change
[Plutarch]
|
12853
|
Some individuate the ship by unity of matter, and others by unity of form
[Hobbes]
|
17256
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If a new ship were made of the discarded planks, would two ships be numerically the same?
[Hobbes]
|
12972
|
Bodies, like Theseus's ship, are only the same in appearance, and never strictly the same
[Leibniz]
|
21301
|
The purpose of the ship makes it the same one through all variations
[Hume]
|
16157
|
Insurance on the original ship would hardly be paid out if the plank version was wrecked!
[Frede,M]
|
11858
|
The question is not what gets the title 'Theseus' Ship', but what is identical with the original
[Wiggins]
|
16517
|
Priests prefer the working ship; antiquarians prefer the reconstruction
[Wiggins]
|
17589
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If you reject transitivity of vague identity, there is no Ship of Theseus problem
[Inwagen]
|
13381
|
Thinking of them as 'ships' the repaired ship is the original, but as 'objects' the reassembly is the original
[Jubien]
|
13382
|
Rearranging the planks as a ship is confusing; we'd say it was the same 'object' with a different arrangement
[Jubien]
|
4592
|
If you can have the boat without its current planks, and the planks with no boat, the planks aren't the boat
[Heil]
|
4198
|
If 5% replacement preserves a ship, we can replace 4% and 4% again, and still retain the ship
[Lowe]
|
4199
|
A renovation or a reconstruction of an original ship would be accepted, as long as the other one didn't exist
[Lowe]
|
4200
|
If old parts are stored and then appropriated, they are no longer part of the original (which is the renovated ship).
[Lowe]
|
14741
|
The ship undergoes 'asymmetric' fission, where one candidate is seen as stronger
[Sider]
|
12854
|
An entrepreneur and a museum curator would each be happy with their ship at the end
[Simons]
|
12855
|
The 'best candidate' theories mistakenly assume there is one answer to 'Which is the real ship?'
[Simons]
|