Question for philosophy buffs
 

K,im gunna post this here and in the off season forum. Open for debate, but mostly on an opinion view, not as a strike someone down for a different belief(if that makes sense). Mostly, i just want to see what you guys think. So, heres the question.

Aship sets sail for a voyage. Along there way, they get a hole in the ship, so they fix. Then another hole, and another, and another. Eventually, they have replaced the whole boat with new material.

Question: Is the boat they set sail on, still the same boat?

RE: Question for philosophy buffs
 

of course. if you give somebody a heart transplant, its not their heart, but they're still the same. the people operate as the brain of the operation, so even if you replaced an entire human body, as long as you keep the brain the same, its still all the same.

RE: Question for philosophy buffs
 

I'm gonna go opposite here....

If the whole boat is made of new material, it's like the other boat doesn't even exist anymore. So I'm calling it a new boat.

I do have to ask...what is the catch here? :eek:

RE: Question for philosophy buffs
 

If they have replaced every part of the boat and the old boat no longer exists, then of course it's not the same boat as before.

Now it could be the SAME boat in the sense that it's identical in every way to the first boat, only made with newer materials.

kinda of like if you have two 2005 Honda Accords that are the same color with the same options etc. You have the SAME car but they are not one they are different.

RE: Question for philosophy buffs
 

I also think that if the boat was made completely out of new material then it would be new boat. Thats because there is no longer any of the old boat remaining.

Not to go against you or anything HG89 ;)

RE: Question for philosophy buffs
 

Ok, no real catch here, just wondering. But, in a way there is a catch. The human body completely changes all the time in the sense that cell recreation makes new material all the time. In fact, you get a new eye every two to three days because cells recreate so fast. So, look at it this way. Are you the same person as you were two weeks ago?

RE: Question for philosophy buffs
 

Physically? Probably not.

Chemically? In a sense.

Mentally? Yes.

See, that's the difference between the human body and an inanimate object. We've got more than one part, we've got our physical makeup, our chemical makeup, and our mental er... makeup. I think you see my point.

To compare a human to a boat in this instance doesn't really work well because of the many differences.

RE: Question for philosophy buffs
 

;)hey, i've been pulling a 72 hour cram session... give me a break:D

RE: Question for philosophy buffs
 

i agree with the whole heart transplat thing and how we are the same person, but in the case of the boat, the brain, heart and soul was replaced, so therefore i say it is a different boat physically, BUT, to the owner, it may have some special value.

RE: Question for philosophy buffs
 

Physically and mentally change all the time. As far as talking about matter. As for my soul, I am the same. Boats aren't anything comparable to humans. The analogy doesn't hold ground in my opinion.