Draft:Ship of Theseus

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If one would replace all the parts in this computer, would it still be the same thing?

Cogito ergo sum Logic and rhetoric

Key articles

Logical fallacy Syllogism Argument

General logic

Argumentum ad nauseam Triviality Affirming a disjunct List of cognitive biases One-way hash argument Logic

Bad logic

Selection bias Release the data What's the harm (logical fallacy) Substituting explanation for premise Holmesian fallacy Wrong direction v - t - e

The Ship of Theseus, also known as the Theseus Paradox, is a philosophical thought experiment. In its original form, it describes a ship's planks being replaced one by one until it consists entirely of new planks, asking whether it remains the same ship.

If it is the same ship, what aspect of it is preserved that makes it so? If not, at what point does the old ship becomes the new ship?

The thought experiment was originally documented by Greek philosopher Plutarch, and was later expanded upon by English philosopher Thomas Hobbes.

History

Plutarch

Life of Theseus was written as part of Plutarch's Parallel Lives, a collection of biographies documenting the lives of 48 notable Greek and Roman men. The exact date of when Parallel Lives and Life of Theseus in specific were written does not appear conclusive, the closest estimate being around the beginning of the 2^nd century CE^{[citation needed]} While the MIT Internet Classics Archive dates the work at 75 A.C.E., one Reddit comment by a now-deleted user contested the reliability of the website's information.
There have been various translations, resulting in different versions having slightly different wording. One of the more popular translations was written in 1914 by American classicist Bernadotte Perrin.

“”The ship on which Theseus sailed with the youths and returned in safety, the thirty-oared galley, was preserved by the Athenians down to the time of Demetrius Phalereus. They took away the old timbers from time to time, and put new and sound ones in their places, so that the vessel became a standing illustration for the philosophers in the mooted question of growth, some declaring that it remained the same, others that it was not the same vessel.

—Plutarch, Life of Theseus 23.1

Thomas Hobbes

English philosopher Thomas Hobbes expanded on the Ship of Theseus in multi-part book Elements of Philosophy by asking whether the original ship could be reconstructed from all its old planks after they have been replaced.

“”According to the first Opinion, He that sins, and he that is punished should not be the same Man, by reason of the perpetual flux and change of Mans Body; nor should the City which makes Lawes in one Age, and abrogates them in another, be the same City; which were to confound all Civil Rights. According to the second Opinion, two Bodies existing both at once, would be one and the same Numerical Body; for if (for example) that Ship of Theseus (concerning the Difference whereof, made by continual reparation, in taking out the old Planks, and putting in new, the Sophisters of Athens were wont to dispute) were, after all the Planks were changed, the same Numerical Ship it was at the beginning; and if some Man had kept the Old Planks as they were taken out, and by putting them afterwards together in the same order, had again made a Ship of them, this without doubt had also been the same Numerical Ship with that which was at the beginning; and so there would have been two Ships Numerically the same, which is absurd. But according to the third Opinion, Nothing would be the same it was; so that a Man standing, would not be the same he was sitting; nor the water which is in the Vessel, the same with that which is poured out of it. Wherefore the beginning of Individuation is not alwayes to be taken either from Matter alone, or from Form alone.

—Thomas Hobbes, Elements of Philosophy: Of Identity and Difference

Use in misrepresentation of ideas and facts in discussion

The unclear boundary between 'same' and 'different' that the Theseus Paradox explores often materializes as a dishonest tactic in debate and discussion.

In his 2018 video The Alt-Right Playbook: The Ship of Theseus, Ian Danskin (known online as Innuendo Studios) applies the thought experiment with the following question:

“”How many words can you change in an argument until it's not the same argument anymore?

An individual arguing in bad faith may replace terms or phrases in order to subtly alter the meaning of what they are saying, even if it does not at all accurately pertain to the original topic of discussion.

Innuendo Studios demonstrates the three primary purposes of this tactic as such:

• Make the unacceptable acceptable

  The statement "Activist Y is against sexual objectification" becomes "Activist Y is a bigot" by replacing "against sexual objectification" with "anti-sex," then from there arguing that being "anti-sex" is bigotry.

  Arguing against the original statement is a recipe for severe retaliation, but the twisting of terms can produce a statement that is considered more acceptable to say.

• Make the unremarkable remarkable

  The statement "Some pornography is coercive" becomes "All pornography is coercive" by implying a private definition of pornography that excludes consensual pornography.

  The dishonest rewording of something generally banal can result in an eye-catching title that is bound to attract attention.

• Cut people off from their communities

  The statement "Public figure X doxxed me" may be used to misrepresent a scenario where a contractor who worked for public figure X liked a tweet that contained the accuser's name.

  This dishonest framing is typically done with the goal of turning Public figure X's supporters against them by pushing a particular image or idea, one that does not actually describe what occurred.

  These forms of misrepresentation utilize both conclusions of the paradox. A dishonest individual aims to have others believe the ship is the same as before, adopting the false premise or portrayal that is being presented, while trying to construct a new ship in its place to convey an entirely new argument.

There has been some criticism, such as in the video's comments section, that comparing this phenomena to the Ship of Theseus thought experiment is inaccurate; rather, a more straightforward term such as "lying by substitution" would be more appropriate.

Examples

A common tactic among transphobic individuals is by portraying any pro-transgender discussion or behavior (such as mentioning one's correct pronouns) as "grooming", "pedophilia", "forced transitioning", "child abuse" etc. It is generally becoming more unacceptable to voice outright hatred of transgender people or the idea of socially or medically transitioning. In order to make the unacceptable acceptable, a bigot redefines ideas like explaining queerness to child/teenager or supporting a teenager's transition into things that are more acceptable to oppose while insisting that there is no fundamental difference.

Notes

• Thomas Hobbes' writing originally used a ſ in place of a regular s, as was standard writing practice at the time. The quote was adjusted to make it easier to read.

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Categories:

• Alt-right
• Logic