the identity theory

The story goes like this - Theseus, a hero in Greek mythology, had a ship. Overtime his ship began to rot, and as each plank of wood would rot, he would replace it with a new plank of wood. But at some point, every piece of the ship had been replaced, which poses the question - is the ship after all these replacements still the same ship? And to make it even harder, if someone collected all the old pieces from the original build and reconstructed the original ship, which, if either, is the 'real' Ship of Theseus?

Some philosophers argue that it's the same ship if it keeps at least some of the original matter, while others say it's the same if it has the same design, function or structure, even if all the parts are new.

I then ask the question, if our cells in our body replace themselves every 7-10 years (which they do), then are we still the same person we were 10 years ago? And if you could perfectly copy your physical body and every memory of yours and put it into a robot or clone, which one is the "real you"? If someone were to gather every old cell you have lost in the last 10 years and rebuild "you", would that be you, or is the only "you" the person you are sitting and reading this now? Would they both be "you" in some sense?

This theory is fascinating, it poses questions of how much can change is something before it is no longer "itself" and tries to find the line of our identites. Maybe identity isn't about material or physical body at all, maybe it is about continuity of your function, purpose or memory. If that is the case, would an old person whose physical body is deteriorating and maybe they have dementia still have an "identity" if their physical body has lost most of its functioning and they have lost most of their memory.

Maybe a person exists in relation to other people, so an old person with dementia and not much remaining physical ability is still a person, because of the memories other people in this world have with them or about them. Like how when we die, we live on in the mind of those we impact along the way. This reminds me of the old African philosophy of "Ubuntu".

Anyway, I certainly don't have all the answers. It's one of those things that's up to everyone's own interpretation, and it certainly makes you think.

That's all I have to share for today, thanks for reading x