Writing Assignment for Monday, February 6
Due at the beginning of
class.
In one page (300 words) or less answer the following
question: Of the arguments presented by Paley and Hume, which do find the most
persuasive? Why?
Daily Assignment #1
Due at the beginning of class
Friday, January
20
The Ship of Theseus
The ship of the ancient Greek mariner Theseus—let us
name it "T"—is composed of 1,000 old, but still perfectly seaworthy planks.
Nevertheless, Theseus brings T into port for a complete renovation. The
shipwright who accepts the contract has two drydocks, A and B, and he puts
Theseus' ship into one of them, drydock A. Being a cleaver fellow, however, he
recognizes that he can make good use of T's still-seaworthy planks, and so he
sets his men to work around the clock according the the following scheme: During
the first hour, the crew removes one of T's old planks and replaces it with a
new one. In addition, however, they carry the old plank over to drydock B and
set it in position as if they were beginning to build a ship in that drydock.
During the second hour, the crew repeats the same process—replacing a second old
plank from the ship in drydock A with a new plank and carrying the old plank
over to drydock B where it is suitably fastened to the previously relocated
plank. During the third hour, they repeat the process again—and they continue in
this fashion for a full thousand hours. At the end of 1,000 hours, then, the
situation is this: There is a ship in drydock A—call it ship "X"—which consists
of 1,000 new planks, and there is a ship in drydock B--call it ship "Y"—which
consists of the 1,000 old planks from Theseus' ship T reassembled into exactly
the same arrangement which they had when T was brought into drydock A. Our
question is: Which ship, X or Y—if either—is Theseus' ship T?
— J. F.
Rosenberg, The Practice of Philosophy: A Handbook for Beginners, second ed.
(Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1984)
Please bring a
paragraph to class Friday, January 20, answering Rosenberg’s question in the
last sentence along with your reasons for the answer.