In case people don't get the joke, the ship of Theseus was a thought experiment: if a ship over its voyages gets every single part replaced, is it still the same ship?
As a follow up: if the answer is "yes, it's still the same ship" then one can ask: if you take all the original parts and build a ship with them, is that the same ship as well?
The best response I've read is that we have a sense of permanence; as as long as at every point in time you can say "that thing is there," then it's the same thing. So if every day you pass your childhood home and they're doing work on it, even if over a couple years they replace everything, you're going to think of it as your childhood home. But if at one point they knock it down and build it back exactly the same, you probably wouldn't because, at that one point, your childhood home didn't exist.
IMO it only is confusing if you think of it in binary (same ship vs different ship) if you use fractions, for example it is 30% the same ship, then that paradox is falling apart.
Moreover, if the original parts re-made are the "same" ship, and the one with all brand-new parts is also the "same" ship, then are they both the same ship - and if so, only in relation to the original original, or now also to each other?! :-P
Helen is also likely a reference to "helen of troy" a central character in Homers Iliad.
In case people don't get the joke, the ship of Theseus was a thought experiment: if a ship over its voyages gets every single part replaced, is it still the same ship?
As a follow up: if the answer is "yes, it's still the same ship" then one can ask: if you take all the original parts and build a ship with them, is that the same ship as well?
The best response I've read is that we have a sense of permanence; as as long as at every point in time you can say "that thing is there," then it's the same thing. So if every day you pass your childhood home and they're doing work on it, even if over a couple years they replace everything, you're going to think of it as your childhood home. But if at one point they knock it down and build it back exactly the same, you probably wouldn't because, at that one point, your childhood home didn't exist.
IMO it only is confusing if you think of it in binary (same ship vs different ship) if you use fractions, for example it is 30% the same ship, then that paradox is falling apart.
Moreover, if the original parts re-made are the "same" ship, and the one with all brand-new parts is also the "same" ship, then are they both the same ship - and if so, only in relation to the original original, or now also to each other?! :-P
Helen is also likely a reference to "helen of troy" a central character in Homers Iliad.
https://youtu.be/UzsA6w7OrGQ?t=358