Wednesday Wisdom

Ship of Theseus

Coronet is a 131' wooden-hull schooner yacht built for oil tycoon Rufus T Bush in 1885. It is one of the oldest and largest vessels of its type in the world, and one of the last grand sailing yachts of the 19th century extant. After numerous owners and decades of neglect, it underwent extensive restoration at Newport, Rhode Island's, International Yacht Restoration School.

I have watched the incredibly hard work and craftsmanship over the years as the ship was stripped and finally refurbished.  I watched as the boards, planks, hull, and keel were replaced with great attention to detail. Throughout this project, I often contemplated whether this is a living tale of The Ship of Theseus. 

The Ship of Theseus

The Ship of Theseus is a thought experiment about whether an object that has had all of its original components replaced remains the same object. According to legend, Theseus, the mythical Greek king, and hero of Athens had rescued the children of Athens from King  Minos after slaying the minotaur (head of a bull, body of a man) and then escaped on a ship to Delos. 

 Plutarch:

Plutarch was known for writing biographies (Parallel Lives) that compared and contrasted Ancient Greeks and Romans of importance and prominence. In his book "Life of Theseus", Plutarch described the Ship of Theseus thought experiment, as he chronicled the Athenian King.

Plutarch wrote "The ship wherein Theseus…returned [from Crete] had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demetrius Phalereus [died c. 280 BCE], for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their place, insomuch that this ship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logical question as to things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same."

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A Puzzle that Philosophers across the ages try to answer

One of the many philosophers to address this puzzle and push it to the next level was the Englishman Thomas Hobbs(1588-1679). He is most notable for his thought on politics such as his book Leviathan(1651), which is notable for describing social contracts between leaders and people. The version of the problem presented by Hobbes (in his work De Corpore- 1655) introduces a complication by supposing that the old planks of the ship are preserved and put together “in the same order” to construct another ship.

Hobbes once argued, which would be the real Ship of Theseus: "the one that had all its old timbers replaced with new ones or the one that was rebuilt with the original planks. The one with the original planks would be the real one, since, even though these got replaced by new ones that were supposed to represent the actual ship, these were the ones that composed the vessel that Theseus used on his way to Athens. These planks were the ones that went through the wear and tear of the sea and time. Therefore these timbers carry a lot more historical value than their replacements."

Hobbes considers the two resulting ships as illustrating two different definitions of "Identity" or sameness that are being compared to the original ship: 1) the ship that maintains the same "FORM" as the original, that which persists through complete replacement of material, and 2) the ship made of the same "MATTER', that which stops being 100% the same ship when the first part is replaced.

2022 Why should you care?

This puzzle is an allegory meant to be a thought experiment about the human condition and an expression of the branch of METAPHYSICS.  In metaphysics, the goal is to answer the what and how questions in life. Who are we, and what are time and space?

An allegory is a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. Many thinkers have described The Ship of Theseus puzzle as" form versus matter", "whole versus some of the parts", or even a way of describing the Holy Trinity. A thought puzzle is not necessarily intended to have a right or wrong answer, having a thoughtful process might be more relevant. 

The journey of the Coronet, like the journey of the Ship of Theseus, perhaps is a more simple story. Homer's epic story of "The Odyssey" saw Odysseus prevail through trial and triumph on his epic journey. His experiences and relationships made him stronger, like that of a refitted ship.

The metaphysical answer might be that the journey and the relationships we make along the way make us more seaworthy, and more importantly an original and a better version at the same time.

link to Coronet's journey below

And now you know: Philosophy is the art of thinking, the building block of progress that shapes critical thinking across economics, ethics, religion, and science. 

*Logic and Metaphysics definitions below: