Ship of Theseus [a story]
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Ship of Theseus [a story]
I went back in time and asked a hunter the question ‘what is the ship of Theseus’ [and told him the entire conundrum]. To wit he replied….
I saw a large log floating upon the river, and I thought to myself, if I sit on that, I could float down the river to the next village where my beloved lives. So I got on and it twisted around and I fell off. So I thought, what if I cut out somewhere to sit and gave it sides so it didn’t rotate in the water? So I did that and proudly went to the village to show off my new invention to my wife. Whereupon rather than saying how great I was, she merely asked where the hell is she supposed to sit!
Soon, all the kids wanted to sit in the boat too, so I had to find a log big enough for all of them. Then all the other people in the village – who didn’t know how to make canoes, said ‘how about us’! So after much searching I found a giant log from a giant tree and made a ship – a boat big enough for everyone in the village.
Now, the original boat I named Cynthia after my lovely wife. Not wanting a fight with her I also named the boat big enough for the whole family by the same name. Then to honour her further I also called the ship I later made, Cynthia.
Eventually I decided to stylise the ship with some tribal patterns, along with the sail I had made because rowing had become a chore. So one day she says ‘how is this ship which now looks nothing like it did before, still the ship called Cynthia?’. If I turned into another woman would you still love me the same, and would I still be the same, she said.
Not wanting an argument I stated that there was never any such thing as the canoe, boat, nor ship which were Cynthia, all there has ever been were logs of various sizes, which in themselves are not even boats. Then that I merely named them Cynthia to remind me of her when I was out hunting and fishing. I used many boats after that one had been lost of sunk, all of which I named the same.
So in answer to your question, time traveller, there is no ship of Theseus nor ever was, there is not even ‘ship’ ~ for they are all logs of varying sizes, and in fact I doubt if nature knows what ‘floating’ is, after all, the log is merely lighter and a different density to the water, so the water pushes it out of itself. There is no thingness of ‘floating’, nor ‘ship’, nor a name – for a person is not what that name is.
ergo, if e.g. you are doing up an old boat, and wondering if it will be the same after you change some or all of its parts. Just remember that there was never the car, it was always a collection of parts, all fashioned at different times and locations. The only thing possibly which is not merely a collection of parts, is you the ‘Cynthia’ – the person and not the thing.
‘I see’ I said. However, we change over time and to our experiences? So the hunter took me to the village and said;
here I have a bone bowl made from a skull of a creature I once killed, in which I have been collecting beeswax for some time. I will hang it over the fire and warm it up. Now I take this ladle and spoon out some wax and pour it into this mould ~ one which I fashioned into the likeness of Cynthia of course.
Then, tragically I drop the mould to the floor. Fortunately the mould is strong and remains the same, but the now cooled wax has cracked and broken. So I heat the mould and tip the wax back into the bowl, and then I again take the ladle and spoon in some now remixed wax to remake the face and head of Cynthia. This, just like when my wife got hit in a hunting accident, died and then became conscious again after a few moments, you understand?
Whoops! Now I dropped the mould and both it and the cooled wax, has cracked beyond repair.
So now I make another mould which I make as near to the original Cynthia as possible. However, it would still be different, so if she is not looking I will make another mould which is of a different face of a different woman. Now, what I mean by ‘not looking’, is death, and what I mean by a different mould is to live once more ~ or reincarnation as you would say.
The important thing is that the wax and the mould changes in life, as it does in the temporary death or terminal death. However, through all the changes of wax and moulds, the entirety has been experienced by Cynthia!
She will always be Cynthia my beloved.
Hmm says the hunter, it appears that I have contradicted myself. In one story there is no ship of Theseus, and in the next there is only that. I guess ships and Cynthia’s are not the same. Indeed, there was never a collection of parts which were Cynthia, and Theseus never existed!
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Re: Ship of Theseus [a story]
2023/2024 Philosophy Books of the Month
Mark Victor Hansen, Relentless: Wisdom Behind the Incomparable Chicken Soup for the Soul
by Mitzi Perdue
February 2023
Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness
by Chet Shupe
March 2023