The Ship of Theseus puzzle

David Rose; Edouard Machery; Stephen Stich; Mario Alai; Adriano Angelucci; Renatas Berniūnas; Emma E. Buchtel; Amita Chatterjee; Hyundeuk Cheon; In-Rae Cho; Daniel Cohnitz; Florian Cova; Vilius Dranseika; Angeles  Eraña Lagos; Maurice Grinberg; Ivar Hannikainen; Takaaki Hashimoto; Amir Horowitz; Evgeniya Hristova; Yasmina Jraissati; Veselina Kadreva; Kaori Karasawa; Hackjin Kim; Yeonjeong Kim; Min-Woo Lee; Carlos Mauro; Masaharu Mizumoto; Sebastiano Moruzzi; Christopher Y. Olivola; Jorge Ornelas; Barbara Osimani; Alejandro Rosas; Carlos Romero; Andrea Sereni; Sarah Songhorian; Paulo Sousa; Noel Struchiner; Vera Tripodi; Naoki Usui; Alejandra Vázquez del Mercado; Giorgio Volpe; Hrag A. Vosgerichian; Xueyi Zhang; Jing Zhu

doi:10.1093/oso/9780198852407.003.0007

The Ship of Theseus puzzle

David Rose^*, Edouard Machery, Stephen Stich, Mario Alai, Adriano Angelucci, Renatas Berniūnas, Emma E. Buchtel, Amita Chatterjee, Hyundeuk Cheon, In-Rae Cho, Daniel Cohnitz, Florian Cova, Vilius Dranseika, Angeles Eraña Lagos, Maurice Grinberg, Ivar Hannikainen, Takaaki Hashimoto, Amir Horowitz, Evgeniya Hristova, Yasmina JraissatiVeselina Kadreva, Kaori Karasawa, Hackjin Kim, Yeonjeong Kim, Min-Woo Lee, Carlos Mauro, Masaharu Mizumoto, Sebastiano Moruzzi, Christopher Y. Olivola, Jorge Ornelas, Barbara Osimani, Alejandro Rosas, Carlos Romero, Andrea Sereni, Sarah Songhorian, Paulo Sousa, Noel Struchiner, Vera Tripodi, Naoki Usui, Alejandra Vázquez del Mercado, Giorgio Volpe, Hrag A. Vosgerichian, Xueyi Zhang, Jing Zhu

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Does the Ship of Theseus present a genuine puzzle about persistence due to conflicting intuitions based on “continuity of form” and “continuity of matter” pulling in opposite directions? Philosophers are divided. Some claim that it presents a genuine puzzle but disagree over whether there is a solution. Others claim that there is no puzzle at all since the case has an obvious solution. To assess these proposals, we conducted a cross-cultural study involving nearly 3,000 people across twenty-two countries, speaking eighteen different languages. Our results speak against the proposal that there is no puzzle at all and against the proposal that there is a puzzle but one that has no solution. Our results suggest that there are two criteria—“continuity of form” and “continuity of matter”— that constitute our concept of persistence and these two criteria receive different weightings in settling matters concerning persistence.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Oxford studies in experimental philosophy
Editors	Tania Lombrozo, Joshua Knobe, Shaun Nichols
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Chapter	6
Pages	158-174
Volume	3
ISBN (Electronic)	9780191886867
ISBN (Print)	9780198852407
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198852407.003.0007
Publication status	Published - 09 Apr 2020

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The Ship of Theseus puzzle
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Rose, D., Machery, E., Stich, S., Alai, M., Angelucci, A., Berniūnas, R., Buchtel, E. E., Chatterjee, A., Cheon, H., Cho, I.-R., Cohnitz, D., Cova, F., Dranseika, V., Eraña Lagos, A., Grinberg, M., Hannikainen, I., Hashimoto, T., Horowitz, A., Hristova, E., ... Zhu, J. (2020). The Ship of Theseus puzzle. In T. Lombrozo, J. Knobe, & S. Nichols (Eds.), Oxford studies in experimental philosophy (Vol. 3, pp. 158-174). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198852407.003.0007

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title = "The Ship of Theseus puzzle",

abstract = "Does the Ship of Theseus present a genuine puzzle about persistence due to conflicting intuitions based on “continuity of form” and “continuity of matter” pulling in opposite directions? Philosophers are divided. Some claim that it presents a genuine puzzle but disagree over whether there is a solution. Others claim that there is no puzzle at all since the case has an obvious solution. To assess these proposals, we conducted a cross-cultural study involving nearly 3,000 people across twenty-two countries, speaking eighteen different languages. Our results speak against the proposal that there is no puzzle at all and against the proposal that there is a puzzle but one that has no solution. Our results suggest that there are two criteria—“continuity of form” and “continuity of matter”— that constitute our concept of persistence and these two criteria receive different weightings in settling matters concerning persistence.",

author = "David Rose and Edouard Machery and Stephen Stich and Mario Alai and Adriano Angelucci and Renatas Berniūnas and Buchtel, {Emma E.} and Amita Chatterjee and Hyundeuk Cheon and In-Rae Cho and Daniel Cohnitz and Florian Cova and Vilius Dranseika and {Era{\~n}a Lagos}, Angeles and Maurice Grinberg and Ivar Hannikainen and Takaaki Hashimoto and Amir Horowitz and Evgeniya Hristova and Yasmina Jraissati and Veselina Kadreva and Kaori Karasawa and Hackjin Kim and Yeonjeong Kim and Min-Woo Lee and Carlos Mauro and Masaharu Mizumoto and Sebastiano Moruzzi and Olivola, {Christopher Y.} and Jorge Ornelas and Barbara Osimani and Alejandro Rosas and Carlos Romero and Andrea Sereni and Sarah Songhorian and Paulo Sousa and Noel Struchiner and Vera Tripodi and Naoki Usui and {del Mercado}, {Alejandra V{\'a}zquez} and Giorgio Volpe and Vosgerichian, {Hrag A.} and Xueyi Zhang and Jing Zhu",

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doi = "10.1093/oso/9780198852407.003.0007",

language = "English",

isbn = "9780198852407",

volume = "3",

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editor = "Tania Lombrozo and Joshua Knobe and Shaun Nichols",

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Rose, D, Machery, E, Stich, S, Alai, M, Angelucci, A, Berniūnas, R, Buchtel, EE, Chatterjee, A, Cheon, H, Cho, I-R, Cohnitz, D, Cova, F, Dranseika, V, Eraña Lagos, A, Grinberg, M, Hannikainen, I, Hashimoto, T, Horowitz, A, Hristova, E, Jraissati, Y, Kadreva, V, Karasawa, K, Kim, H, Kim, Y, Lee, M-W, Mauro, C, Mizumoto, M, Moruzzi, S, Olivola, CY, Ornelas, J, Osimani, B, Rosas, A, Romero, C, Sereni, A, Songhorian, S, Sousa, P, Struchiner, N, Tripodi, V, Usui, N, del Mercado, AV, Volpe, G, Vosgerichian, HA, Zhang, X & Zhu, J 2020, The Ship of Theseus puzzle. in T Lombrozo, J Knobe & S Nichols (eds), Oxford studies in experimental philosophy. vol. 3, Oxford University Press, pp. 158-174. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198852407.003.0007

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T1 - The Ship of Theseus puzzle

AU - Rose, David

AU - Machery, Edouard

AU - Stich, Stephen

AU - Alai, Mario

AU - Angelucci, Adriano

AU - Berniūnas, Renatas

AU - Buchtel, Emma E.

AU - Chatterjee, Amita

AU - Cheon, Hyundeuk

AU - Cho, In-Rae

AU - Cohnitz, Daniel

AU - Cova, Florian

AU - Dranseika, Vilius

AU - Eraña Lagos, Angeles

AU - Grinberg, Maurice

AU - Hannikainen, Ivar

AU - Hashimoto, Takaaki

AU - Horowitz, Amir

AU - Hristova, Evgeniya

AU - Jraissati, Yasmina

AU - Kadreva, Veselina

AU - Karasawa, Kaori

AU - Kim, Hackjin

AU - Kim, Yeonjeong

AU - Lee, Min-Woo

AU - Mauro, Carlos

AU - Mizumoto, Masaharu

AU - Moruzzi, Sebastiano

AU - Olivola, Christopher Y.

AU - Ornelas, Jorge

AU - Osimani, Barbara

AU - Rosas, Alejandro

AU - Romero, Carlos

AU - Sereni, Andrea

AU - Songhorian, Sarah

AU - Sousa, Paulo

AU - Struchiner, Noel

AU - Tripodi, Vera

AU - Usui, Naoki

AU - del Mercado, Alejandra Vázquez

AU - Volpe, Giorgio

AU - Vosgerichian, Hrag A.

AU - Zhang, Xueyi

AU - Zhu, Jing

PY - 2020/4/9

Y1 - 2020/4/9

N2 - Does the Ship of Theseus present a genuine puzzle about persistence due to conflicting intuitions based on “continuity of form” and “continuity of matter” pulling in opposite directions? Philosophers are divided. Some claim that it presents a genuine puzzle but disagree over whether there is a solution. Others claim that there is no puzzle at all since the case has an obvious solution. To assess these proposals, we conducted a cross-cultural study involving nearly 3,000 people across twenty-two countries, speaking eighteen different languages. Our results speak against the proposal that there is no puzzle at all and against the proposal that there is a puzzle but one that has no solution. Our results suggest that there are two criteria—“continuity of form” and “continuity of matter”— that constitute our concept of persistence and these two criteria receive different weightings in settling matters concerning persistence.

AB - Does the Ship of Theseus present a genuine puzzle about persistence due to conflicting intuitions based on “continuity of form” and “continuity of matter” pulling in opposite directions? Philosophers are divided. Some claim that it presents a genuine puzzle but disagree over whether there is a solution. Others claim that there is no puzzle at all since the case has an obvious solution. To assess these proposals, we conducted a cross-cultural study involving nearly 3,000 people across twenty-two countries, speaking eighteen different languages. Our results speak against the proposal that there is no puzzle at all and against the proposal that there is a puzzle but one that has no solution. Our results suggest that there are two criteria—“continuity of form” and “continuity of matter”— that constitute our concept of persistence and these two criteria receive different weightings in settling matters concerning persistence.

U2 - 10.1093/oso/9780198852407.003.0007

DO - 10.1093/oso/9780198852407.003.0007

M3 - Chapter (peer-reviewed)

SN - 9780198852407

VL - 3

SP - 158

EP - 174

BT - Oxford studies in experimental philosophy

A2 - Lombrozo, Tania

A2 - Knobe, Joshua

A2 - Nichols, Shaun

PB - Oxford University Press

ER -

The Ship of Theseus puzzle

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