The Mopar of Theseus.
There is an old philosophical paradox about the Ship of Theseus that goes like this:
Theseus sets off on a wooden ship, bound for a far away port. His ship carries a cargo of timber, and as he sails, he replaces every plank of the ship one by one. When he finally docks his ship in port, the ship is exactly the same as the one he set off in....but is it the same ship?
Those of you who say that it's a new ship subscribe to the Mereological Theory of Identity. If you change the parts, you change the thing.
I'd argue that he never got off the ship, therefore when he docked he was on the same ship he set out on! Now, what if he kept one original plank? It's not a new ship then, is it?
On the other hand we have the Spatio Temporal Continuity theory, which says that an object can maintain its identity if the change is gradual and the shape of the object is preserved through the changes of its components.
In this case you could argue (as I have done in the past) that the whole "ship" can be changed yet still maintain its original identity.
For sake of further argument, lets imagine Theseus's ancient ship in a museum. Some thieves want to steal the ship, but it won't fit through the door so they steal it one plank at a time....replacing a single plank each night until they have the whole ship.
They rebuild Theseus's ship from the stolen planks and now we have two "identical" ships. We have/had ship A (the original museum ship), ship B (the new museum ship) and ship C (the re-assembled ship). Most will argue that ship C is the most valuable ship....it's the original. But is it? It's got all new nails. How much of the original ship do you have to have for it to be original?
Now, to those of you who argue for original steel:
The original car wasn't changed when the first oil filter was replaced. It wasn't changed when the LH tail light lens was renewed. Since you'd agree with me that the car is effectively unchanged as bits of it were replaced over the years, you also subscribe to the Spatio Temporal Continuity theory....and that if the change is gradual and the shape of the object is preserved through the changes of its components, the object maintains its identity.
Mopar to ya :)
There is an old philosophical paradox about the Ship of Theseus that goes like this:
Theseus sets off on a wooden ship, bound for a far away port. His ship carries a cargo of timber, and as he sails, he replaces every plank of the ship one by one. When he finally docks his ship in port, the ship is exactly the same as the one he set off in....but is it the same ship?
Those of you who say that it's a new ship subscribe to the Mereological Theory of Identity. If you change the parts, you change the thing.
I'd argue that he never got off the ship, therefore when he docked he was on the same ship he set out on! Now, what if he kept one original plank? It's not a new ship then, is it?
On the other hand we have the Spatio Temporal Continuity theory, which says that an object can maintain its identity if the change is gradual and the shape of the object is preserved through the changes of its components.
In this case you could argue (as I have done in the past) that the whole "ship" can be changed yet still maintain its original identity.
For sake of further argument, lets imagine Theseus's ancient ship in a museum. Some thieves want to steal the ship, but it won't fit through the door so they steal it one plank at a time....replacing a single plank each night until they have the whole ship.
They rebuild Theseus's ship from the stolen planks and now we have two "identical" ships. We have/had ship A (the original museum ship), ship B (the new museum ship) and ship C (the re-assembled ship). Most will argue that ship C is the most valuable ship....it's the original. But is it? It's got all new nails. How much of the original ship do you have to have for it to be original?
Now, to those of you who argue for original steel:
The original car wasn't changed when the first oil filter was replaced. It wasn't changed when the LH tail light lens was renewed. Since you'd agree with me that the car is effectively unchanged as bits of it were replaced over the years, you also subscribe to the Spatio Temporal Continuity theory....and that if the change is gradual and the shape of the object is preserved through the changes of its components, the object maintains its identity.
Mopar to ya :)