Student John Fitzer chosen to present metaphysics paper
John Fitzer, Philosophy major, has been chosen to present his metaphysics paper “Sailing on the High Seas” at the 4th Annual Columbia College Undergraduate Philosophy Conference on Saturday, October 17th in Columbia, Missouri.
“Sailing on the High Seas”
In a study of identity, Roderick Chisholm (Identity Through Time) and Micheal Loux (Metaphysics: a contemporary introduction) have given us much to think about when considering the problem of identity. Here, we are not describing why objects exist or even what makes up an existing object. How do we work out complex identities when the line isn’t so clear? Is it a simple matter of how we use language or can we effectively draw something out of these discussions? Drawing on these texts, I will construct a practical way of thinking about this topic. Here we will take the four-dimensional approach to articulate the position better. By using the example of the Ship of Theseus, a mythical ship that is replaced plank-by-plank from wood to aluminum, I will illustrate where the identity of the ship lies after the wooden planks are reconstructed and we are faced with the problem of determining which ship holds the identity of the Ship of Theseus. By evaluating both the change in properties and the spatio-temporal location of the original ship, we can make an argument that the essence of the Ship of Theseus lies with the new aluminum ship rather than with the old, wooden ship. Conference-abstract