Captain Abu's soul torture

Here's a story about philosophers scratching their heads ：

A ship is parked on the dock , Over time , The hull is getting older . When the hull is a little old , Captain Abu took down the old part and put it in the warehouse , And replace the old parts with new materials of the same style . Three years later, , Every part of the ship was replaced one by one , The whole repaired ship was finally completely parked on the wharf . Let us call the ship that was originally placed on the dock A ship , The repaired ship that was parked on the dock three years later is called B ship .

This is the time , Captain Abu found out , The materials stored in the warehouse can just form a complete ship . therefore , According to A The original design of the ship , Reassemble the materials in the warehouse , And make each part just return to its original position . Let's call the last recombined ship C ship .

Captain Abu finished 、 Sit down and 、 Smoking , He began to think ：“ B Ships and C ship Which one is the original A The ship? ？” At first , He felt B Ships and C The ship can be said to be the original one A ship , But he soon found out , They can't all be A ship , because , obviously B Ships and C A ship is a different ship . therefore , He began to feel sleepy .

This is a 《 What kind of world is this 》¹ A question raised in a book , Author wangwenfang said , Philosophers have a lot of controversy about this .

Is it so hard ？ I don't believe it .

Let's first look at the three solutions proposed by contemporary philosophers .

The first proposition of the philosopher

The first philosopher said ： No matter C Is the ship A ship ,B The ship is no longer A Ship .

because A After the first board change , It is no longer A 了 , It is different from before , It became A1, similarly ,A1 After changing a board , become A2, Three years later, , The end result is B,B Absolutely not A.

This answer is not satisfactory , Just move around and you won't be on the same boat ？ Yesterday's you are different from today's you , Compared with yesterday , You have a lot of new cells , Many cells die of old age , But you are still you ！

For example, Zhang San , His name is Zhangsan , Could you have called him the year before last “ Zhang San 2019”, Last year it was called “ Zhang San 2020”, This year is called “ Zhang San 2021”？ Or more strictly , Today is called “ Zhang San 202108010”？

There are many such things in real life , A university may change gradually , It has nothing in common with the scene a hundred years ago , For example, Peking University , They have completely different land areas , Completely different buildings , Completely different teachers and students , Even a completely different school idea , But it will not stop being Peking University .

1918 Peking University in

2018 Peking University in

alike , A river goes through thousands of years , There may be no same part as the original river ： Different currents , Different widths , Different flow directions , Even the location of the source is no longer the same .

Again ： After a small sapling grows into a big tree , There is almost no same part between it and the original seedlings , But we do not say that they are two different trees .

How does the human brain think about this kind of gradual change ？

One thing , If it changes a little , We just think it hasn't changed much , Just think it's still it , For example, when A After the boat changed a board , A little change , We think it's still A, Change another piece , It is not much different from the previous state , Just think it's still A, And so on , Even after three years of repair ,A All the boats have been changed , Turned into B ship , We still say that this is A ship .

however , The human brain is not very adaptable to mutations , Fortunately, there are not many sudden changes in the real world , The strangest thing is “ caterpillar ” change “ Butterfly ”, This kind of thing is just a matter of discussion , Just give this kind of thing two names , The former is called “ caterpillar ”, The latter is called “ Butterfly ”.

The second proposition of the philosopher

The second philosopher said ：“ C The ship is no longer A ship .”

because A After the board of the ship is removed , It's not A Part of , All the boards that have been dismantled successively in the inland for three years , Are not A Part of , So combined C , did not A Any part of , So it is no longer A 了 .

This statement is also far fetched , think about it , If one day your precious marble chess is missing “ Horse ”, For the sake of continued use , You managed to find a soda bottle cap to replace it . Three years later, , You came out of the sofa with the one that had been missing for a long time “ Horse ”, At this time you will say “ This marble horse is no longer a part of the original chess game ” Do you ？ Maybe you won't ！

Take another look at this argument ：“ hypothesis B Ships never existed , Captain Abu just put A The ship was dismantled and reassembled C ship , So under this assumption ,C There is no doubt that a ship will equal A ship . But if C The ship is B The absence of a ship is equivalent to A ship , that ,C The ship is B The existence of a ship should also be equivalent to A The boat is right .”

So the second statement is not satisfactory .

The third proposition of the philosopher

Three philosophers say ：A Ship is B ship ,A So is the boat C ship , but B The ship is not C ship .

He thought so ：

A The ship is becoming B In the course of the ship , The ship is always at the dock . If a person is watching the boat at the dock , He thought the ship had gone through the vicissitudes of time , Although there are repairs , The boat is the same boat .

And if a person has been watching in the warehouse , He saw more and more boards , Later, it was assembled into a ship , You will feel that although the ship has undergone disassembly and assembly , But the same boat .

such , By the boat itself 、 Time 、 Location, etc , Rowed the boat in different spaces , bring A Ships and B Ships are consistent in a certain space ; And in another space ,A Ships and C The ship is consistent ; but B Ships and C The ship is not in the same space , So it's different .

How to think about this problem more freely

I think philosophers have complicated the problem again .

This is not a mathematical problem , This is just a question of thought .

The key to answering this question is ： How to think , Let people think more clearly , More comfortable .

My answer is ： Look at the master's wishes .

We assume that A The name of the ship is “ Charcoal melon ”, Captain Abu , Think A The ship is being repaired into B In the course of the ship , The boat is the same boat , So he always called it “ Charcoal melon ”, There's no problem with that .

But , When he found the replaced part , It can be built into C ship , He kind of wants to C Ship call “ Charcoal melon ” 了 , After all, this is the old one “ Charcoal melon ” ah .

Can you do that ？ I said, , As long as he wants to , Absolutely. , He can turn C Ship call “ Charcoal melon ”, hold B The ship was renamed “ New charcoal melon ”.

similarly , He can turn B Ship call “ Charcoal melon ”, hold C Ship call “ Old charcoal melon ”.

What does he want to call , Just call it , After all, it's his boat .

Others don't really care .

What is the essence

This problem , Reflect the “ Always in change and motion 、 Things are constantly changing 、 A world where boundaries are not clear ” And “ Human beings are overwhelmed 、 With limited cognitive ability 、 The brain that always swings between the love of the new and the weariness of the old and the nostalgia complex ” Contradiction between .

To be simple , Namely “ The changing world ” And “ A simple mind ” Contradiction between .

Metaphysically ： This is a “ There is “ and ” Concept ” The contradiction of .

How to identify a concept ？ How to name a concept ？ The key is how to make people more clear , More comfortable psychologically .

“ Peking University, ” The concept , What does it contain ？ turf 、 Student 、 teacher 、 Environmental Science 、 facilities 、 Course 、 The paper 、 brand 、 assets 、 subsidiary 、 Culture 、 temperament 、 The spirit of 、 idea ……？

Our brains , In fact, I have no intention to understand this （ Because it takes a lot of trouble and has no benefit ）, We only need to know that it is in Haidian District of Beijing , yes TOP2, The neighbor is Qinghua , That's enough , Nothing else . When did it move , We put it in the brain “ Location ” Just change the attribute , Even if all the teachers in it have changed , As long as the state recognizes it as Peking University , We consider it Peking University .

If we go any further , Suppose according to the overall strategy of education reform , Peking University moved its entire staff to the campus of Wuhan University , Merge Wuhan University and Peking University , Then we call the Merged University “ Beijing National University ”, And referred to as “ Peking University ”, It's estimated that many people can't stand it . ah , Is this the same Peking University ？ If we exchange all the teachers inside with those in Tsinghua University , It's estimated that everyone can't stand it any more . however , After fifty years , Most people will still accept .

therefore , This so-called philosophical problem , It can be summed up as ：

1、 master （ Property owner ） For his assets , How do you want to define , How do you want to name , It's all right , Follow the master's wishes .

2、 If it is a public concept , Or involve public awareness , It's best to take care of the public's cognitive habits and psychological feelings .

This philosophical question , What enlightenment does it bring to us

After the Yellow Crane Tower is rebuilt , Is it still the old Yellow Crane Tower ？

After the founding of new China , Are we still the old China ？

Years of marriage , Is your relationship with your spouse the same as before ？

You are now , Are you still a child ？

1、 The universe is changing , Don't cling to your ideas . The old one goes away , New ones will come . Everything you have , Just accompany you for a period of time . Don't indulge in the pain of loss and the anxiety of gain .

2、 Form is not the most important , It depends on the nature . You are now , In essence, is it the same as you ？ Something has changed , Nothing has changed ？ What should not change ？ What can change ？ Think these questions clearly , You will be less confused and confused .

3、 What's called doesn't matter , What matters . Face a new concept , Think about what it is ？ such , You won't be confused by new things , Not to be fooled .

The ultimate torture

For example, a man named Zhangsan , As body organs age , He keeps changing his organs , First, heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney , Later, I changed my limbs , later , Change your brain, too .

Excuse me, , Is this still Zhang San , If not , Who is it? ？

This question is actually easy to answer , Whoever this person is , Ask him ,“ who are you ”.

Who he says is who .

Because he is the master of himself .

Postscript

Kafka's 《 Metamorphosis 》 It is a masterpiece .

One morning, the protagonist Grieg finds himself turned into a big beetle , This scared and baffled his family , Do you still recognize this family member , He is so impersonal . This is still hard work that day 、 Do you earn money to support your son and brother ？

He can't bring any benefits to his family now , All it brings is trouble and trouble .

After Gregor died , The whole family breathed a sigh of relief .

writing ｜ Wei Jianwu

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1. Wangwenfang ,《 What kind of world is this 》,2006