Back سفينة ثيسيوس Arabic Teseyin gəmisi (paradoks) Azerbaijani থেসেউসের জাহাজ Bengali/Bangla Lestr Theseüs Breton Paradoxa de Teseu Catalan Théseova loď Czech Schiff des Theseus German Paradoja de Teseo Spanish Teseoren paradoxa Basque کشتی تسئوس Persian
The Ship of Theseus, also known as Theseus's Paradox, is a paradox and a common thought experiment about whether an object is the same object after having all of its original components replaced over time, typically one after the other.
In Greek mythology, Theseus, the mythical king of the city of Athens, rescued the children of Athens from King Minos after slaying the minotaur and then escaped onto a ship going to Delos. Each year, the Athenians would commemorate this by taking the ship on a pilgrimage to Delos to honour Apollo. A question was raised by ancient philosophers: If no pieces of the original made up the current ship was it still the Ship of Theseus? Furthermore, if it was no longer the same, when had it ceased existing as the original ship?
In contemporary philosophy, this thought experiment has applications to the philosophical study of identity over time. It has inspired a variety of proposed solutions and concepts in contemporary philosophy of mind concerned with the persistence of personal identity.