Does anybody know of a historiography or review of the discussion of the idea of the Ship of Theseus and things related thereto (I suppose this might also include Alan Gibbard's discussion of the Lumpl-Goliath problem). Failing an actual historiography - or perhaps in addition to it - what are some key references on this?
1
-
1See chapter 2 in Metaphysics of Identity by Gallois (I am not entirely sure what "historiography" means in this context). Also, SEP has Identity Over Time article with a very long bibliography.– ConifoldCommented Apr 18, 2017 at 2:08
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
I wrote my dissertation on this! The ship of Theseus is just one example of a broader problem called the problem of material constitution, the literature on which is enormous.
As far as the history of the problem:
The ship case is first mentioned by Plutarch, in his Parallel Lives. And the general problem of identity over time is a topic among stoic philosophers in the Hellenistic period (inc. Chrysippus, IIRC.)
The problem is resurrected in early modern philosophy by Hobbes in a work known as the de corpore.
For a nice collection of contemporary papers on these issues see the collection called Material Constitution by Michael Rea.