The Ship of Theseus

One of the oldest of all thought experiments is the paradox known as the Ship of Theseus, which originated in the writings of Plutarch. In this philosophical question, you are asked to imagine a ship that has remained seaworthy for hundreds of years due to constant repairs. As soon as one plank became old and rotted, it would be replaced, and so on until every working part of the ship was no longer original. The question is whether this ship is still the same Ship of Theseus, or something completely different. If it’s not the same ship, at what point did it become something new? You could say the same for a person as each of our cells regenerates to the point that nothing left of the person we were when we were born remains. Does this mean we are a totally different person? If not, what is it that makes us the same person throughout our lives? At its heart, the experiment forces one to question the commonly held idea that identity is solely contained in physical objects and phenomena.