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Personal Identity

Ship of Theseus

(Text as at 01/01/2026 17:28:19)

Note

• Thesis Text:
  1. There’s no Stanford entry on this topic per se, so see "Wikipedia - Ship of Theseus" for an introduction.
  2. Versions:-
     • The original version, recounted by Plutarch, just considers whether an artifact (specifically a ship) can continue the same thing if its parts are gradually replaced until all the original parts have been replaced.
     • Hobbes added the further paradox of collecting up the replaced parts and assembling them into a rival claimant to be the original ship.
     • There are various “minimalist” cases in popular culture whereby half of an artifact is replaced, followed by the other half, and maybe the process is then repeated.
       1. The traditional example is “grandfather’s axe” (the blade and the handle being successively replaced).
       2. A more recent one is “Trigger’s Broom”, from Only Fools and Horses, where the broom handle and head are successively replaced.
          
  3. I’m greatly attracted to David Lewis¹’s solution² to the Hobbesian version of the Ship of Theseus thought experiment³, but need to consider alternative solutions that don’t depend on Perdurantism⁴, and whether this case is really relevant to personal identity.
     • Is there anything special about artifacts⁵ that makes identification arbitrary or a matter of convention⁶, while the continued identity of a person⁷ (from the first-person perspective⁸, whatever society⁹ – which only has a third-person perspective – may say) is not arbitrary?
     • Organisms¹⁰ – it is said – do replace (most of) the matter making up (most of) their parts in the course of their lives, yet we are sure that the organism persists. Also, the matter that is lost and replaced are not “parts” in the way that planks of a ship are parts. It’s only in transplant¹¹ surgery when parts properly so-called are replaced.
     • However, is there a fact of the matter whether the repaired ship or the reconstructed ship is the “true” ship?
     • The minimalist case is interesting because it presses our intuitions¹². Personally, I don’t think half or any large part of an artifact¹³ can be replaced while the thing remains the same, but this may just be a prejudice. Habituation comes into consideration – just as assimilation of new matter is important to organisms¹⁴. If we become habituated to some major change in a building, say, then we may agree that it has persisted¹⁵. Then we may become habituated – over generations – to the replacement of the other half. Then – if persistence is identity-preserving – we must be prepared to say – given the logic of identity¹⁶ – that the original building is identical to the current one, even if it looks nothing like it.
     • I have had such a conundrum with my house, where it was decided to rebuild the front and most of the rear walls, and the “Trigger’s Broom” variant of the Ship of Theseus paradox was mentioned by a mortgage adviser.
     • As discussed in the Note on artifacts¹⁷, Eastern traditions are much less fussy about material continuity in the persistence of buildings. See "Han (Byung-Chul) - Shanzhai: Deconstruction in Chinese".
  4. Returning to the specific case of the Ship, and generally where individuals¹⁸ lose parts¹⁹, we need to consider what the status of the lost part is:-
     • When a bicycle is disassembled with the intention of reassembling it again later, its parts are not released but merely dispersed and it becomes a scattered object²⁰.
     • However, when an object loses a part in the normal case of wear and tear, that part – unless the artifact can be mended by having the part re-attached – is not dispersed but is returned to the environment for use elsewhere and is no longer associated with the object of which it once formed a part.
     • The same can be said where parts – in particular, planks – are removed and replaced. The ship (in this case) no longer has a lien over them.
     • If this account is correct, it solves Hobbes’s problem of the Ship of Theseus without the need for perdurantism²¹, though this theory of persistence²² may still be useful for other puzzles of fission²³.
       

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  Further Remarks:
  1. None.

References

• Relevant Works cited above:
  1. "Han (Byung-Chul) - Shanzhai: Deconstruction in Chinese", 2017, Book, Read
  2. "Wikipedia - Ship of Theseus", 2023, External Link, Read = 17%
• For a page of Links²⁴ to this Note, Click here.
• Works on this topic that I’ve actually read²⁵, include the following:-
  • General:
    1. "Carter (William) - Artifacts of Theseus: Fact and Fission", 1983, Write-Up Note²⁶, Internal PDF Link
    2. "Chandler (Hugh S.) - Theseus' Clothes-Pin", 1984, Internal PDF Link
    3. "Fine (Kit) - A Counter-Example To Locke's Thesis", 2000, Write-Up Note²⁷, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
    4. "Han (Byung-Chul) - Shanzhai: Deconstruction in Chinese", 2017, Book
    5. "Lowenthal ( David) - Material Preservation and Its Alternatives", 1989, Internal PDF Link
    6. "Marshall (Richard) & Olson (Eric) - Eric T. Olson: The Philosopher with No Hands", 2014, External Link
    7. "Noonan (Harold) - The Reduplication Problem", 2003, Annotations
    8. "Olson (Eric) - Immanent Causation and Life After Death", 2010, Write-Up Note²⁸, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    9. "Quine (W.V.) - Identity: an Excerpt From Quiddities", 1987
    10. "Sider (Ted) - The Four-Dimensional Picture", 2003, Annotations
    11. "Simons (Peter) - Parts: A Study in Ontology - Introduction", 1987, Annotations
• A further reading list might start with:-
  • General:
    1. "Barnett (David) - The Problem of Material Origins", 2005, Internal PDF Link
    2. "Burke (Michael) - Cohabitation, Stuff and Intermittent Existence", 1980, Internal PDF Link
    3. "Chisholm (Roderick) - Identity Through Time", 1976, Read = 14%
    4. "Davis (Lawrence H.) - Smart on Conditions of Identity", 1973, Internal PDF Link
    5. "Doyle (Robert O.) - The Ship of Theseus", 2018, No Abstract, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    6. "Gallois (Andre) - The Puzzle Cases", 1998
    7. "Garrett (Brian) - A Further Reply to Noonan", 1987, Internal PDF Link, Read = 67%
    8. "Garrett (Brian) - Noonan, 'Best Candidate' Theories and the Ship of Theseus", 1985, Internal PDF Link
    9. "Goodman (Charles) - Vaibhāṣika Metaphoricalism", 2005, Internal PDF Link, Read = 8%
    10. "Heller (Mark) - The best candidate approach to diachronic identity", 1987, Internal PDF Link
    11. "Hershenov (David) - Can There Be Spatially Coincident Entities of the Same Kind?", 2003, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    12. "Horvath ( Christopher D.) - Some Questions about Identifying Individuals: Failed Intuitions about Organisms and Species", 1997, Internal PDF Link
    13. "Hughes (Christopher) - An Incredible Coincidence?", 1997, Internal PDF Link
    14. "Hughes (Christopher) - Same-kind coincidence and the ship of Theseus", 1997, Internal PDF Link
    15. "Johansson (Ingvar) - Identity Puzzles and Supervenient Identities", 2006, Internal PDF Link
    16. "Lockwood (Michael) - Of Persons and Organisms: A Reply to Howsepian", 1997, Internal PDF Link
    17. "Lowe (E.J.) - On the Identity of Artifacts", 1983, Internal PDF Link
    18. "Lowe (E.J.) - Reply to Noonan", 1987, Internal PDF Link
    19. "Morreau (Michael) - It Simply Does Not Add Up: Trouble With Overall Similarity", 2010, Internal PDF Link
    20. "Noonan (Harold) - Reply to Garrett", 1986, Internal PDF Link
    21. "Noonan (Harold) - Reply to Lowe", 1986, Internal PDF Link
    22. "Noonan (Harold) - Reply to Lowe on Ships and Structures", 1988, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 33%
    23. "Noonan (Harold) - The Necessity of Origin", 1983, Internal PDF Link
    24. "Noonan (Harold) - Wiggins, Artifact Identity and 'Best Candidate' Theories", 1985, Internal PDF Link, Read = 17%
    25. "Over (D.E.) - On a Temporal Slippery Slope Paradox", 1986, Internal PDF Link, Footnote₂₉
    26. "Rea (Michael) - The Problem of Material Constitution", 1995, Internal PDF Link
    27. "Scaltsas (Theodore) - Identity, Origin and Spatiotemporal Continuity", 1981, Internal PDF Link
    28. "Scaltsas (Theodore) - The Ship of Theseus", 1980, Internal PDF Link
    29. "Simons (Peter) - On Being the Same Ship(s) - or Electron(s): Reply to Hughes", 1997, Internal PDF Link
    30. "Smart (Brian) - How to Reidentify the Ship of Theseus", 1972, Internal PDF Link
    31. "Smart (Brian) - The Ship of Theseus, the Parthenon and Disassembled Objects", 1973, Internal PDF Link
    32. "Smythe (Thomas W.) - Chisholm on Personal Identity", 1975, Internal PDF Link
    33. "Symons (John) - The Individuality of Artifacts and Organisms", 2010, Internal PDF Link
    34. "Tanksley (Charley) - The Mereological Constancy Of Masses", 2010, Internal PDF Link
    35. "Wikipedia - Ship of Theseus", 2023, External Link, Read = 17%

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• For a list of Works that have been considered, but have missed the cut for inclusion in this Section of my Thesis, see the following:-
  1. Read: No items to list.
  2. Further Reading: No items to list.
• This is mostly a place-holder³⁰.

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In-Page Footnotes:

Footnote 29:

• See also "Tanksley (Charley) - The Mereological Constancy Of Masses".

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Table of the Previous 11 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
06/07/2023 00:43:12	7223	Ship of Theseus
20/09/2022 11:24:00	6910	Ship of Theseus
10/05/2022 17:45:36	6464	Ship of Theseus
17/02/2021 01:17:46	6278	Ship of Theseus
01/06/2020 23:52:48	5457	Ship of Theseus
24/06/2018 16:32:10	7362	Ship of Theseus
09/05/2018 23:47:02	6361	Ship of Theseus
14/01/2017 20:18:14	2692	Ship of Theseus
18/12/2010 19:58:05	716	Ship of Theseus
26/11/2007 23:25:26	620	Ship of Theseus
12/08/2007 10:17:46	618	Ship of Theseus

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Note last updated	Reading List for this Topic	Parent Topic
01/01/2026 17:28:19	Ship of Theseus	Thought Experiments

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Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

Artifacts	Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity)	Carter – Artifacts of Theseus	Convention	Fine - A Counter-Example to Locke's Thesis
First-Person Perspective	Fission	Individual	Intuition	Lewis
Logic of Identity	Mereology	Note Links Explanation	Olson - Immanent Causation and Life After Death	Organisms
Perdurantism	Persistence	Person	Scattered Objects	Society
Thought Experiments	Transplants	Works Read - Explanation

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.

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Summary of Notes Citing This Note

Androids	Artifacts, 2	Coincidence	Dion and Theon	Olson - Immanent Causation and Life After Death, 2
PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3, 4	Research - Proposal	Thesis - Chapter 04 (Basic Metaphysical Issues)	Thesis - Chapter 07 (The Constitution View and Arguments for It), 2, 3, 4, 5	Thesis - Personal Identity, 2, 3
Website Generator Documentation - Functors, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.

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Authors, Books & Papers Citing this Note

Author	Title	Medium	Extra Links	Read?
Aune (Bruce)	Changing Things	Paper
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Temporal Reality	Paper
Barnett (David)	The Problem of Material Origins	Paper
Blatti (Stephan)	Material Constitution	Paper
Chandler (Hugh S.)	Theseus' Clothes-Pin	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5	Yes
Chisholm (Roderick)	Identity Through Time	Paper
Doyle (Robert O.)	N/A	Author
Gallois (Andre)	Identity Strict and Loose	Paper
Gallois (Andre)	The Puzzle Cases	Paper
Garrett (Brian)	A Further Reply to Noonan	Paper
Garrett (Brian)	Noonan, 'Best Candidate' Theories and the Ship of Theseus	Paper
Gasser (Georg)	Personal Identity and Resurrection: Bibliography	Paper		Yes
Gendler (Tamar Szabo)	Imaginary Exceptions: On the Powers and Limits of Thought Experiment	Paper
Hall (D. Geoffrey)	Continuity and the Persistence of Objects: When the Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of the Parts	Paper
Hanley (Richard)	The Metaphysics of Star Trek: To Beam or Not to Beam?	Paper		Yes
Heller (Mark)	The best candidate approach to diachronic identity	Paper
Hershenov (David)	Can There Be Spatially Coincident Entities of the Same Kind?	Paper
Hoffman (Joshua) & Rosenkrantz (Gary)	What Kinds of Physical Substances are there?	Paper
Hughes (Christopher)	An Incredible Coincidence?	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5
Johansson (Ingvar)	Identity Puzzles and Supervenient Identities	Paper
Johnston (Mark)	Is Heaven a Place We Can Get To?	Paper
Jubien (Michael)	Contemporary Metaphysics	Book
Liggins (David)	Nihilism without Self-Contradiction	Paper
Lockwood (Michael)	When Does a Life Begin?	Paper		Yes
Lowe (E.J.)	Identity Over Time and Change Of Composition	Paper	2
Lowe (E.J.)	On the Identity of Artifacts	Paper
Lowenthal ( David)	Material Preservation and Its Alternatives	Paper	2, 3, 4	Yes
Marshall (Richard) & Olson (Eric)	Eric T. Olson: The Philosopher with No Hands	Paper		Yes
McGrath (Matthew)	Four-Dimensionalism and the Puzzles of Coincidence	Paper
Noonan (Harold)	Reply to Garrett	Paper
Noonan (Harold)	The Only X and Y Principle	Paper
Noonan (Harold)	The Reduplication Problem	Paper		Yes
Noonan (Harold)	Wiggins, Artifact Identity and 'Best Candidate' Theories	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5
Olson (Eric)	Immanent Causation and Life After Death	Paper	2	Yes
Over (D.E.)	On a Temporal Slippery Slope Paradox	Paper
Quine (W.V.)	Identity: an Excerpt From Quiddities	Paper	2	Yes
Rea (Michael)	The Problem of Material Constitution	Paper	2
Salmon (Nathan)	Principles of Cross-World Identification	Paper
Scaltsas (Theodore)	The Ship of Theseus	Paper	2
Science Unbound	Teleporters: The Death Machines You Don't Want	Paper		Yes
Sider (Ted)	The Four-Dimensional Picture	Paper		Yes
Simons (Peter)	On Being the Same Ship(s) - or Electron(s): Reply to Hughes	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Simons (Peter)	Parts: A Study in Ontology	Book
Simons (Peter)	Parts: A Study in Ontology - Introduction	Paper		Yes
Smart (Brian)	Personal Identity in an Organized Parcel	Paper
Smart (Brian)	The Ship of Theseus, the Parthenon and Disassembled Objects	Paper
Tipler (Frank)	The Physics of Resurrection of the Dead to Eternal Life	Paper
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Androids	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Artifacts	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 04 (Basic Metaphysical Issues)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 07 (The Constitution View and Arguments for It)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Coincidence	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Dion and Theon	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Van Inwagen (Peter)	Précis of Material Beings	Paper		Yes
Van Inwagen (Peter)	When are Objects Parts?	Paper
Wiggins (David)	On Being in the Same Place at the Same Time	Paper		Yes
Williamson (Timothy)	Vagueness, Identity and Leibniz's Law	Paper	2, 3
Wilson (Jack)	Beyond Horses and Oak Trees: A New Theory of Individuation for Living Entities	Paper		Yes
YouTube	Video - The Trouble with Transporters	Paper		Yes

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References & Reading List

Author	Title	Medium	Source	Read?
Barnett (David)	The Problem of Material Origins	Paper - Cited	Noûs, Vol. 39, No. 3 (Sep., 2005), pp. 529-540	No
Burke (Michael)	Cohabitation, Stuff and Intermittent Existence	Paper - Cited	Mind, 89, No. 355, Jul., 1980, pp. 391-405	No
Carter (William)	Artifacts of Theseus: Fact and Fission	Paper - Cited	Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 61.3 (September 1983)	Yes
Chandler (Hugh S.)	Theseus' Clothes-Pin	Paper - Cited	Analysis, Vol. 44, No. 2 (Mar., 1984), pp. 55-58	Yes
Chisholm (Roderick)	Identity Through Time	Paper - Cited	Chisholm - Person and Object, 1976, Chapter 3	14%
Chisholm (Roderick)	Person and Object	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	1%
Dauer (Francis W.)	How Not to Reidentify the Parthenon	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis, Vol. 33, No. 2 (Dec., 1972), pp. 63-64	No
Davis (Lawrence H.)	Smart on Conditions of Identity	Paper - Cited	Analysis, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Jan., 1973), pp. 109-110	No
Doyle (Robert O.)	The Ship of Theseus	Paper - Cited	Personal Website	No
Ellis (Brian)	Australasian Journal of Philosophy - 61.3 (September 1983)	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	83%
Fine (Kit)	A Counter-Example To Locke's Thesis	Paper - Cited	Monist, Jul2000, Vol. 83 Issue 3, p357, 5p	Yes
Gallois (Andre)	Identity Strict and Loose	Paper - By Subtopic	Gallois - Occasions of Identity, 1998, Chapter 8	No
Gallois (Andre)	Occasions of Identity : a Study in the Metaphysics of Persistence, Change, and Sameness	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Gallois (Andre) - Occasions of Identity : a Study in the Metaphysics of Persistence, Change, and Sameness	No
Gallois (Andre)	Occasions of Identity : a Study in the Metaphysics of Persistence, Change, and Sameness	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	No
Gallois (Andre)	The Puzzle Cases	Paper - Cited	Gallois - Occasions of Identity, 1998, Chapter 1	No
Garrett (Brian)	A Further Reply to Noonan	Paper - Cited	Analysis 47, 1987, pp. 204-207	No
Garrett (Brian)	Noonan, 'Best Candidate' Theories and the Ship of Theseus	Paper - Cited	Analysis 45, 1985, 212-215	No
Gasser (Georg), Ed.	Personal Identity and Resurrection: How Do We Survive Our Death?	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	96%
Gendler (Tamar Szabo)	Imaginary Exceptions: On the Powers and Limits of Thought Experiment	Paper - By Subtopic	PhD Thesis, The Department of Philosophy, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, August 1996	1%
Goodman (Charles)	Vaibhāṣika Metaphoricalism	Paper - Cited	Philosophy East and West, Vol. 55, No. 3 (Jul., 2005), pp. 377-393	8%
Hall (D. Geoffrey)	Continuity and the Persistence of Objects: When the Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of the Parts	Paper - By Subtopic	Cognitive Psychology, Volume 37, Number 1, October 1998, pp. 28-59(32)	No
Han (Byung-Chul)	Shanzhai: Deconstruction in Chinese	Book - Cited	Han (Byung-Chul) - Shanzhai: Deconstruction in Chinese	Yes
Heller (Mark)	The best candidate approach to diachronic identity	Paper - Cited	Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Volume 65, Number 4, December 1987, pp. 434-451(18)	No
Hershenov (David)	Can There Be Spatially Coincident Entities of the Same Kind?	Paper - Cited	Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Mar. 2003, 33.1, pp. 1-22	No
Hoffman (Joshua) & Rosenkrantz (Gary)	Substance: Its Nature and Existence	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Hoffman (Joshua) & Rosenkrantz (Gary) - Substance: Its Nature and Existence	No
Hoffman (Joshua) & Rosenkrantz (Gary)	What Kinds of Physical Substances are there?	Paper - By Subtopic	Hoffman & Rosenkrantz - Substance: Its Nature and Existence, Chapter 5, pp. 150-187	No
Horvath ( Christopher D.)	Some Questions about Identifying Individuals: Failed Intuitions about Organisms and Species	Paper - Cited	Philosophy of Science, Vol. 64, No. 4 (Dec., 1997), pp. 654-668	No
Hughes (Christopher)	An Incredible Coincidence?	Paper - By Subtopic	Mind, 106, No. 424, Oct., 1997, pp. 769-772	No
Hughes (Christopher)	Same-kind coincidence and the ship of Theseus	Paper - By Subtopic	Mind, 106, Number 421, January 1997, pp. 53-69(17)	No
Johansson (Ingvar)	Identity Puzzles and Supervenient Identities	Paper - By Subtopic	Metaphysica 7.1 (2006), pp. 7-34	No
Lockwood (Michael)	Of Persons and Organisms: A Reply to Howsepian	Paper - By Subtopic	Journal of Medical Ethics, Vol. 23, No. 1 (Feb., 1997), pp. 42-44	No
Lowe (E.J.)	Reply to Noonan	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis, Vol. 47, No. 4 (Oct., 1987), pp. 201-203	No
Lowenthal ( David)	Material Preservation and Its Alternatives	Paper - Cited	Perspecta, Vol. 25 (1989), pp. 66-77	Yes
Marshall (Richard)	Philosophy at 3:AM: Questions and Answers with 25 Top Philosophers	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	37%
Marshall (Richard) & Olson (Eric)	Eric T. Olson: The Philosopher with No Hands	Paper - Cited	Marshall (Richard) - Philosophy at 3:AM: Questions and Answers with 25 Top Philosophers	Yes
Noonan (Harold)	Personal Identity	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Noonan (Harold)	Reply to Lowe	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis, Vol. 46, No. 4 (Oct., 1986), pp. 218-221	No
Noonan (Harold)	Reply to Lowe on Ships and Structures	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis, Vol. 48, No. 4 (Oct., 1988), pp. 221-223	No
Noonan (Harold)	The Necessity of Origin	Paper - By Subtopic	Mind, Vol. 92, No. 365 (Jan., 1983), pp. 1-20	No
Noonan (Harold)	The Reduplication Problem	Paper - Cited	Noonan - Personal Identity, 2003, Chapter 7	Yes
Noonan (Harold)	Wiggins, Artifact Identity and 'Best Candidate' Theories	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis 45, 1985, 4-8	17%
Olson (Eric)	Immanent Causation and Life After Death	Paper - Cited	Gasser (Georg) - Personal Identity and Resurrection: How Do We Survive Our Death? 2010	Yes
Over (D.E.)	Is There a Temporal Slippery Slope Paradox?	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis, Vol. 46, No. 4 (Oct., 1986), pp. 197-200	17%
Over (D.E.)	On a Temporal Slippery Slope Paradox	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis, Vol. 46, No. 1 (Jan., 1986), pp. 15-18	No
Quine (W.V.)	Identity: an Excerpt From Quiddities	Paper - Cited	Van Inwagen & Zimmerman - Metaphysics: The Big Questions, 1998	Yes
Rea (Michael)	The Problem of Material Constitution	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophical Review, October 1995; 104(4): 525-553	No
Salmon (Nathan)	Principles of Cross-World Identification	Paper - By Subtopic	Salmon - Reference and Essence, 2005, Appendix 1	No
Salmon (Nathan)	Reference and Essence	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Salmon (Nathan) - Reference and Essence	4%
Scaltsas (Theodore)	The Ship of Theseus	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis, Vol. 40, No. 3 (Jun., 1980), pp. 152-157	No
Sider (Ted)	Four-dimensionalism: An Ontology of Persistence and Time	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	12%
Sider (Ted)	The Four-Dimensional Picture	Paper - Cited	Sider - Four-dimensionalism, Chapter 1	Yes
Simons (Peter)	On Being the Same Ship(s) - or Electron(s): Reply to Hughes	Paper - By Subtopic	Mind, 106, No. 424, Oct., 1997, pp. 761-767	No
Simons (Peter)	Parts: A Study in Ontology	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	2%
Simons (Peter)	Parts: A Study in Ontology - Introduction	Paper - Cited	Simons - Parts: A Study in Ontology, 1987, Introduction	Yes
Smart (Brian)	How to Reidentify the Ship of Theseus	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis, Vol. 32, No. 5 (Apr., 1972), pp. 145-148	No
Smart (Brian)	Personal Identity in an Organized Parcel	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophical Studies: Vol. 24, No. 6 (Nov., 1973), pp. 420-423	No
Smart (Brian)	The Ship of Theseus, the Parthenon and Disassembled Objects	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis, Vol. 34, No. 1 (Oct., 1973), pp. 24-27	No
Smythe (Thomas W.)	Chisholm on Personal Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophical Studies: Vol. 27, No. 5 (May, 1975), pp. 351-360	No
Symons (John)	The Individuality of Artifacts and Organisms	Paper - By Subtopic	History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, Vol. 32, No. 2/3, The Concept of Organism: Historical, Philosophical, Scientific Perspectives (2010), pp. 233-246	No
Tanksley (Charley)	The Mereological Constancy Of Masses	Paper - By Subtopic	The Philosophical Quarterly (1950-), Vol. 60, No. 239 (April 2010), pp. 343-354	No
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Ship of Theseus	Paper - By Subtopic		Yes
Van Inwagen (Peter) & Zimmerman (Dean)	Metaphysics: The Big Questions	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	17%
Wikipedia	Ship of Theseus	Paper - Cited	Wikipedia; Extract taken 18th May 2023	17%

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