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Paradox Of The Ship Of Theseus

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The paradox of the Ship of Theseus’ legacy comes from its underlying messages of personal identity, and more specifically, what truly makes up or represents an individual 's identity. Over the course of this essay, I will be breaking down the paradox in order to further explore its elements, gain a more transparent understanding of it and provide my own potential solution. To begin, however, I would like to detail my understanding of the Ship of Theseus paradox. The Greek hero, Theseus, possesses a ship that is constructed exclusively with wooden planks. Over the course of a certain amount of time, however, the wooden planks on Theseus’ ship is replaced with new wooden pieces. It is important to note that this process of replacing the wooden planks occurs over a significant period of time that is very steady and gradual. During the slow phase of replacement, Theseus and his fellow crewmen are able to effortlessly sail across the sea, unaffected by the installation of the new planks. While Theseus’ ship is now composed of new wooden planks, the old planks have not been destroyed, but rather, set aside. The shipwright, Stilpo, comes to the conclusion all of the materials set aside have the capacity to form an entirely separate ship. Thus, he places the planks and pieces together to form a second ship and arranges them in a way that is identical to the Theseus’ original ship. The shipwright begins to sail this new ship across the sea and along the way, Theseus’ ship and his

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