8 Paradoxes Guaranteed To Melt Your Mind

7. The Ship Of Theseus

The Ship of Theseus is a paradox that questions when an object that has its parts replaced is still the same object.

The reasoning goes like this:

Throughout a ship's lifespan, the parts of it that weather and decay are gradually replaced and the old parts are stored. (A) Once every part of the ship has been entirely replaced, piece by piece, can it still be considered the same ship? (B) Furthermore, if you were to take all of the old pieces that you stored and used to build another ship, would this be the original ship?

How you answer these questions has implications for where we consider an object's "essence" to be contained. If you think that Ship (A) is the original ship, then it implies that the essence of an object is contained within theidea of it, meaning that an object is only made of our perception of it.

If you think that it's Ship (B), then that implies that an object's essence is contained in the materials that it is made from, in which case, you should also ask whether a sculpture made out of that wood is actually the original ship?

If Ancient Greece isn't really your style, then the paradox was pretty comprehensively covered in and episode of Only Fools and Horses,replacing the ship with Trigger's Broom:

"And that's what I've done. Maintained it for 20 years. This old broom's had 17 new heads and 14 new handles in its time."

We all knew Trigger was the philosopher of the group all along.