Ship Of Theseus Paradox

The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned from Crete had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demetrius Phalereus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their place, in so much that this ship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logical question of things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same.

 

"Am I the same person X years ago after multiplying Y incidents? That too considering the fact that action or inaction of every single molecule of this universe has some impact on this universe itself. It’s a question of identity — specifically, the nature of identity and what defines us, who we are, and what separates you or I from anyone else — what makes me, me?

This is not an easy question. In fact, it’s one of the oldest (possibly the oldest) questions in philosophy. And the central issue in existentialism.

Now, I’m adding another perspective that is not purely mine – Bucky Fuller had this metaphor for his Pattern Integrity concept:

“I am going to take a manila rope of a given diameter and given a number of strands, and taking a piece of nylon rope of the same diameter, the same number of strands. I'm going to splice the nylon into the end of the manila rope, and then to the nylon rope I'm going to splice in a cotton rope of the same diameter and number of strands.”

Anyway, then he introduces the idea of a “walking knot” you make at the starting manila rope and slide it all the way to the finer cotton rope at the other end.

The knot has the integrity as long as it has form and utility and it is not a “nylon rope knot” nor a “substance-shifting knot,” but only a sliding knot. This is its pattern of integrity.*

Well, to put back on topic I’d like to add that Theseus’ ship is not simply that first instance, nor the second copy, but it’s mainly the pattern integrity (here as in design and overall quality) which can then be copied, duplicated, patched or anything.

Then he goes and uses the metaphor to link the ropes to our ever-changing bodies and our minds as our pattern integrity… Elsewhere he also says, “only integrity is going to count.”

 

"Primitive man impresses us so strongly with his subjectivity that we should really have guessed long ago that myths refer to something psychic. His knowledge of nature is essentially the language and outer dress of an unconscious psychic process. But the very fact that this process is unconscious gives us the reason why man has thought of everything except the psyche in his attempts to explain myths."

—Carl Jung, Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (1969)