Restoration

Apparently the original is ancient Greek... the ship of Theseus.

This is a puzzle that has been around since antiquity, probably later than Heraclitus, but not much later. It first surfaces in print in Plutarch (Vita Thesei, 22-23):

“The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demetrius Phalereus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their place, insomuch that this ship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logical question of things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same.”

Plutarch tells us that the ship was exhibited during the time [i.e., lifetime] of Demetrius Phalereus, which means ca. 350-280 BCE. (Demetrius was a well-known Athenian and a member of the Peripatetic school, i.e., a student of Aristotle. He wrote some 45 books, and was also a politician).

The original puzzle is this: over the years, the Athenians replaced each plank in the original ship of Theseus as it decayed, thereby keeping it in good repair. Eventually, there was not a single plank left of the original ship. So, did the Athenians still have one and the same ship that used to belong to Theseus?
 
That is a metaphysical problem, I would say. There is an even closer example. Your body replaces each and every cell (of most organs at least) a number of times over your lifetime. Are you still the same person then at the end of your life as you were when born...
 
It wasn't the value of the brush in monetary terms that prompted this restoration.
I wanted it done for sentimental reasons as I'd purchased this for my father who passed away in 2008 aged 96.

I actually had bought two of them and had discarded mine when it wore out,not realizing it could have been repaired. I would have had a restored 'matched pair',if I'd known!

It's terrific to see what can be done by those with skill and,to me, priceless.
N.
 
An object both beautiful and useful that has been given a new lease of life by a skilled craftsman to recall a dear departed dad; renewal ≠ replacing (and, for me, the hope implicit in that); questions of persistence of identity in relation to continuity and change.

What a great thread.

Thanks everyone.
 
I can certainly understand that. I'm in the early stages of commissioning a pair of razors to be forged from a chunk of tool steel which came to me (along with a lot of other stuff) from a very close friend who died far too young.
 
Rev-O said:
An object both beautiful and useful that has been given a new lease of life by a skilled craftsman's to recall a dear departed dad; renewal ≠ replacing (and, for me, the hope implicit in that); questions of persistence of identity in relation to continuity and change.

What a great thread.

Thanks everyone.
Click to expand...
I felt similar when I received back my dad's dad's straight razor, beautifully restored by Neil Miller. An object that's skipped a generation (my father never shaved with it), given that new lease of life. I never knew my grandfather, yet his blood runs in my veins... and down my chin, when I don't treat his razor with the respect it deserves. It's a good thing.
 
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