Thesius Problem
a. The Ship of Thesius problem is a problem that is related to the identity through time branch of metaphysics. The problem goes like this: the ship of Thesius was being stored and preserved in Athens and one day a plank got rotten and began to crumble away the plank was then replaced with a new stronger plank. At this point there is no doubt that the ship even with the new plank is still the ship of Thesius. However, over time more planks rot away and are replaced until some years later there are only the new plan ks and none of the old are left. Is this still the ship of Thesius? If so how can it be if none of the original parts are there and what makes it the ship of Thesius? Or if it is no longer the ship of Thesius what is it and at what point did it cease to be the ship of Thesius? These questions raise bigger questions about general identity. For people and things what makes them what they are
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is it one specific trait or a combination of traits. One solution the ship of Thesius problem is called Lebniz’s rule which states X is the same as Y, if and only if, X and Y have all the same properties and relations; thus, whatever is true of X is also true of Y, and vice versa. This view is opposed by many philosophers who say it is wrong. They say this because if a property changes according to Leibniz’s rule the thing would cease to exist and there would be a new thing. The better solution is the pragmatic one that says the answers to the questions are different depending on the purpose behind the question.
a. I believe that psychological continuity is more important than bodily continuity. This is illustrated by the first part of Bernard Williams thought experiment in “The Self and the Future”, in the experiment Williams suggests there is some process in which two people can switch their entire consciousness into each other’s bodies. Before the switch they are asked which person/body should receive reward and which one should receive punishment. After the switch the consciousnesses remember which one they said should be rewarded and which one would be punished. This shows the consciousness is what makes the person who they are. Williams shows a weakness in the argument in the second part of the experiment where they would be tortured but have no memory yet the person was still afraid of the torture. This shows that it’s more bodily continuity. It is a toss-up between the two but I believe psychological continuity makes the most sense. Your body is like a shell or a framework but the important thing is your psyche.
a.
A universal is a quality or property that is shared by several things. The best theory regarding universals in my opinion is conceptualism. Conceptualism is a philosophical theory that explains universality of particulars as concepts just in the mind but not in reality. Conceptualism attempts to occupy a middle ground between realism and nominalism. In conceptualism a general thing or universal is simply a concept in our minds. Multiple things can fit into these concepts. An example of this are colors. Many things share the property of being blue. But, blue is a concept in our mind. The problem however arises in applying said concepts. What makes one thing blue and another thing not blue? Why a football is called brown but a baseball is called white? Conceptualists say that what makes things fit into a concept is because they possess a certain quality or property and other objects do not. However this does not help it only restates the problem. While the theory of conceptualism is not perfect it works best because then we do not need to find the physical
universals.
a. The best theory for modal truths is modal realism. Modal realism is the theory most supported by David Lewis. According to Lewis the main points of modal realism are there are possible worlds, they are like ours but hold different things, they are their own entities, “actual” is used to distinguish our world from the others but does not make it more real or the others less real, and finally all the worlds are completely isolated from one another. There are several reasons why Lewis is a proponent of Modal Realism. The first and main reason is that it is useful and simple like many mathematical constructs, the use of possible worlds allows us to understand modality fairly easily.
is it one specific trait or a combination of traits. One solution the ship of Thesius problem is called Lebniz’s rule which states X is the same as Y, if and only if, X and Y have all the same properties and relations; thus, whatever is true of X is also true of Y, and vice versa. This view is opposed by many philosophers who say it is wrong. They say this because if a property changes according to Leibniz’s rule the thing would cease to exist and there would be a new thing. The better solution is the pragmatic one that says the answers to the questions are different depending on the purpose behind the question.
a. I believe that psychological continuity is more important than bodily continuity. This is illustrated by the first part of Bernard Williams thought experiment in “The Self and the Future”, in the experiment Williams suggests there is some process in which two people can switch their entire consciousness into each other’s bodies. Before the switch they are asked which person/body should receive reward and which one should receive punishment. After the switch the consciousnesses remember which one they said should be rewarded and which one would be punished. This shows the consciousness is what makes the person who they are. Williams shows a weakness in the argument in the second part of the experiment where they would be tortured but have no memory yet the person was still afraid of the torture. This shows that it’s more bodily continuity. It is a toss-up between the two but I believe psychological continuity makes the most sense. Your body is like a shell or a framework but the important thing is your psyche.
a.
A universal is a quality or property that is shared by several things. The best theory regarding universals in my opinion is conceptualism. Conceptualism is a philosophical theory that explains universality of particulars as concepts just in the mind but not in reality. Conceptualism attempts to occupy a middle ground between realism and nominalism. In conceptualism a general thing or universal is simply a concept in our minds. Multiple things can fit into these concepts. An example of this are colors. Many things share the property of being blue. But, blue is a concept in our mind. The problem however arises in applying said concepts. What makes one thing blue and another thing not blue? Why a football is called brown but a baseball is called white? Conceptualists say that what makes things fit into a concept is because they possess a certain quality or property and other objects do not. However this does not help it only restates the problem. While the theory of conceptualism is not perfect it works best because then we do not need to find the physical
universals.
a. The best theory for modal truths is modal realism. Modal realism is the theory most supported by David Lewis. According to Lewis the main points of modal realism are there are possible worlds, they are like ours but hold different things, they are their own entities, “actual” is used to distinguish our world from the others but does not make it more real or the others less real, and finally all the worlds are completely isolated from one another. There are several reasons why Lewis is a proponent of Modal Realism. The first and main reason is that it is useful and simple like many mathematical constructs, the use of possible worlds allows us to understand modality fairly easily.