The ship of Theseus

Interaction installation

The ship of Theseus is an interaction installation that based on the ancient Greek question, which was raised by ancient philosophers: The ship of Theseus paradox.

This work consists of visual image, motion sensing controller and sound effect, which makes people control the ship motion as participants, feeling how things develop and change in process. People accord a priority to biology over technology and take into account in any assessment of how we define ourselves in relation to our technologies in philosophy itself. Should we include our ontological status in connection with technology, which make modern civilization possible?

Wha Wha, Cookhouse gallery, London,UK

The Ship of Theseus is a thought experiment about whether an object that has had all of its original components replaced remains the same object.

 According to legend, Theseus, the mythical Greek founder-king of Athens, had rescued the children of Athens from King Minos after slaying the minotaur and then escaped on a ship to Delos. Every year, the Athenians commemorated this legend by taking the ship on a pilgrimage to Delos to honor Apollo. The question was raised by ancient philosophers: After several centuries of maintenance, if every part of the ship of Theseus had been replaced, one at a time, was it still the same ship?

In contemporary philosophy, this thought experiment has applications to the philosophical study of identity over time, and has inspired a variety of proposed solutions in contemporary philosophy of mind concerned with the persistence of personal identity.

Interaction installation operation demonstration