met·a·phys·ics
/ˌmedəˈfiziks/
PHILOSOPHY
- The study of reality.
Metaphysics seems to welcome almost all unanswered and seemingly unanswerable philosophical questions. The problems faced within the field of metaphysics are varied and multiple. We’re talking questions ranging from AI, time, simulation theory, perception, language, all the way down to ‘what color was the dress’. If it’s confusing, you can find it in metaphysics.1
One of the oldest and most popular metaphysical problems concerns the concept of identity, as in how can something that changes remain identical to itself. The problem is illustrated by the classic ancient thought problem The Ship of Theseus.
The ship of Theseus was an old Athenian ship with thirty oars, and as the story goes each time a plank would decay it was replaced with a new timber. Over time each plank and each oar was substituted by a new piece of wood. One by one each part of the ship was replaced until no original pieces remained.
Questions abound! Is it the same ship after all the wood is replaced? If not, at what point is the ship of Theseus no longer the same. Does an object lose identity the moment any change occurs? The questions go on and on and have been for several thousand years.
If we defined sameness through its technical counterpart known as The Principle of Indiscernibility of Identicals, then sameness would amount to the idea that if A=B then every feature of A must be a feature of B. And if that is the case, then we would have a problem asserting that the ship of Theseus is the same once a single part is replaced.
Okay great, it’s not the same ship, who cares?
We should care, because the impact of this conclusion is profound. If that’s not the same ship based on the problem of identity, then you aren’t the same person as the person who began reading this article. You certainly aren’t the same person as yesterday, and you are absolutely not the same person born to your parents. The moment you lose a nail, a tooth, a piece of hair, or even a cell, then who you were cannot be the same as who you are. In other words, A does not equal B. The same problems arise if you’d rather define yourself in terms of experiences, psychological states, or even mind, once change occurs perseverance is demolished.2
With this, it would seem that answering a question like ‘what are you doing tonight’ would be impossible since the current iteration of you will not be the same you of tonight.
In 2019 the face of a very popular climbing wall near Austin Texas collapsed. The wall is/was called Prototype Wall. Most of the routes that were on this wall are now reduced to rubble. There is a new face, and eventually new routes will be bolted. And while the site of the new routes will be in the same location, clearly, they will not be on the same wall. After the collapse of Prototype Wall, T-shirts were made, climbers mourned, and folks try and remember what was. However…if individuals are serious about mourning the loss of Prototype, their bereavement is nearly two decades too late, because the moment after Prototype was put up, Prototype ceased to exist.
The Ship of Theseus is a metaphysical problem centered around one question about one word (Same). This question forces us to change the way we look at almost all aspects of our common understanding of the universe. Like the new/old Prototype Wall falling down, this begets new questions, new problems, and new challenges for both climbers and metaphysicists alike!
- Pop culture has commandeered the term ‘metaphysics’ and uses it to categorize all things new-age, but that is not the way philosophers generally understand the discipline.
- There are several different approaches to this problem, including the idea that we would be better served defining objects in terms of the time they take up rather than the space they take up. Or we would be better served understanding objects as non-physical rather than physical. The discussion here is based on what is considered the most common conception of “reality”.
thedihedral.com 
Great read, even though a bit twisty for 3:45 am, lol
LikeLike
Haha…man at 3:45 AM, I feel like everything is a bit twisty!!! Thanks for hitting us up in the time of twisty!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Can’t step in the same river twice.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You crush Keith!!!
LikeLike
Love the duck rabbit . God exists outside of linear time and so do our spirits . This physical world is not all there is . When our physical bodies die we will discover the true reality with our creator God . This current manifestation of the world is the broken result of man rejecting God . Eventually it will be destroyed and replaced with a perfect world. (These are basic Christian beliefs , for anyone who is unfamiliar with the Bible ).
LikeLiked by 1 person
“…as in how can something that changes remain identical to itself.” Hmmm. I’m not the same “me” I was years ago (and am thankful for that), and will probably be a different “me” tomorrow (if luck holds), but to “me” I’m still “me”. This seems to speak to some irreducible kernel of “me-ness” rooted in my consciousness, not in my corporal presence. So, if like that ship, all my parts were replaced (and some are certainly due for replacement), would I still be me? Or would having a different brain yield a different me? Whoa! I can see why this head spinning stuff has gone on and on for millennia. Makes quantum physics seem simple – the cat is either dead or alive (just don’t open the box to find out). 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was riding my mountain bike down a hill. I looked at the silhouette of a higher hillside to my right, the sun behind it, creating an aura that left an afterglow of green on my eyes meaning the light was mostly red though it didn’t appear to be red to me. I asked myself the question, “What’s real, anyway?” and that led to a complete mental breakdown that included hallucinations (really nice ones about mountain lions and blue lights) and a suicide attempt.
I’ve read lately that there is no reality, that it’s simply a very long term consensual agreement that began the moment humans emerged.
The paradox (pair of docks ha ha) of Theseus ship is really interesting, but I remember when I first met it, I settled it for myself that perhaps a thing’s identity exists in its function and as long as it was floating and doing the job it was meant to do it was still the same ship. I don’t know if that floats (ha ha) but in terms of self (my self in particular) I mark the identity “crises” when I was no longer performing the same function I had been. No longer a child. No longer a wife. No longer a teacher.
All this to say that like everyone else, I have no clue.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Martha…I am really digging the idea that “reality” is a longterm agreement/arrangement that began the moment we emerge. I’d fall in line with that for sure, while admitting like you that I have no clue!
Thanks for the puns, they always get me smiling!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The question of “same” evaporates as soon as you realize that “same” as defined as “nothing has changed” doesn’t actually exist. All that philosophical energy wasted on an idea that is logically and factually impossible.
“Same” becomes a useful concept as soon as you understand that it has a subjective definition. What that definition is doesn’t even matter as long all the parties to a conversation agree to it. It is all a matter of social convention. Logically we can only say that things bear a degree of similarity to what they were in the past. That is a thread of continuity.
We perceive a thread of continuity over time and declare something as the same. When that thread stops, we’ll declare it “not the same” any more. Some one else will use a different thread of continuity and declare with equal vehemence that it is. Both will be equally correct in their own value system and we are left with the question of which formulation is more useful to an observer.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Fred…what a great point! This seems like an au natural direction a part 2 would have to take!
LikeLike
This is/was my jam.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah Emlyn!!!
LikeLike
Wonderful post, very useful and practical knowledge, We need more of this!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Collin!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on muunyayo .
LikeLike