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Full Idea
No insurance company, presented with a policy written for 'Theoris' [the original ship] would pay for damages suffered if the ship contructed from the old planks had been shipwrecked.
Gist of Idea
Insurance on the original ship would hardly be paid out if the plank version was wrecked!
Source
Michael Frede (Individuals in Aristotle [1978])
Book Ref
Frede,Michael: 'Essays in Ancient Philosophy' [University of Minnesota 1987], p.66
A Reaction
A very nicely dramatic way of presenting what is taken to be the usual reading of the basic case - that the original identity tracks the continuity of the original structure, not the matter.
| 23313 | The Gnostic demiurge (creator) is deluded, and doesn't care about us [Frede,M] |
| 23326 | In the third century Stoicism died out, replaced by Platonism, with Aristotelian ethics [Frede,M] |
| 23333 | The idea of free will achieved universal acceptance because of Christianity [Frede,M] |
| 23334 | For Christians man has free will by creation in God's image (as in Genesis) [Frede,M] |
| 23335 | In late antiquity nearly all philosophers were monotheists [Frede,M] |
| 23336 | There is no will for Plato or Aristotle, because actions come directly from perception of what is good [Frede,M] |
| 23337 | The Stoics needed free will, to allow human choices in a divinely providential cosmos [Frede,M] |
| 16137 | Earlier views of Aristotle were dominated by 'Categories' [Frede,M] |
| 16157 | Insurance on the original ship would hardly be paid out if the plank version was wrecked! [Frede,M] |
| 23249 | The early philosophers thought that reason has its own needs and desires [Frede,M] |