Plutarch: The Ship of Theseus

Описание: The Ship of Theseus is one of the oldest and most popular thought experiments handed down from history, and it goes back to the ancient Greek philosopher Plutarch. It goes like this.

Imagine that there is a ship called the Ship of Theseus, and it goes out to war, and it takes a battering. It gets a few holes, it loses a few sails, and even some of the crew are thrown overboard. But it goes back to port. And at the shipwright, the holes are fixed and the sails are replaced, and it gets a bit of a new crew.

Now this happens again, and again, and again, until eventually the new Ship of Theseus has nothing about it which is the same as the original Ship of Theseus which left port. The question the thought experiment raises is, is the Ship of Theseus at the end the same Ship of Theseus as at the start?

But the question is not just about ancient Greek ships, but about everything. Because everything will change. A river will flow, a tree will grow, and the world turns. But the same is also true for you, because everything about who you are will change over a lifetime, both physically and psychologically. The new born baby version of you is almost completely different to the one listening to me right now.

So the question the Ship of Theseus asks is, what is it about you that is the same now as it was when you were first born?