Home › Entities › thought_experiment › Ship of Theseus

Ship of Theseus

thought experiment concerning the continuity of identity of an item which has all its parts replaced
Event thought_experiment Q1050837
Press Enter · cited answer in seconds

Summary

Ship of Theseus is a thought experiment[1]. It ranks in the top 5% of thought experiment entities by monthly Wikipedia readership (29,567 views/month).[2]

Key Facts

  • Instance of: paradox[3]
  • Named after: Theseus[4]
  • Commons category: Ship of Theseus[5]
  • Contributor to the creative work or subject: Heraclitus[6], Plato[7], Plutarch[8], Thomas Hobbes[9], John Locke[10], Theodore Sider[11], Noam Chomsky[12]
  • Main subject: continuity[13], identity[14]
  • Used by: ontology engineering[15]
  • Different from: Ship of Theseus[16]
  • Uses: ship[17], axe[18]
  • Has list: list of Ship of Theseus examples[19]
  • Studied by: philosophy[20], philosophy of mind[21], philosophy of law[22]

Body

Outcome and Impact

Things named for Ship of Theseus include Ship of Harkinian[23], a video game[24].

Why It Matters

Ship of Theseus has Wikipedia articles in 24 language editions, a strong signal of global cultural recognition.[25] It is known by 39 alternative names across languages and contexts.[26]

Entities named for it include Ship of Harkinian[23], a video game[24].

Related Entities

Heraclitus John Locke Noam Chomsky philosophy philosophy of law Plato Plutarch ship Ship of Harkinian Thomas Hobbes

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

  1. [3] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  2. [4] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  3. [5] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  4. [6] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  5. [7] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  6. [8] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  7. [9] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  8. [10] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  9. [11] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  10. [12] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  11. [13] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  12. [14] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  13. [15] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  14. [16] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  15. [17] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  16. [18] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  17. [19] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  18. [20] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  19. [21] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  20. [22] ↑ . wikidata.org.

Inverse relationships (entities pointing at this one)

  1. [23] ↑ . wikidata.org. → on this site

Inline context (facts about related entities)

  1. [24] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site

Class ancestry

  1. [1] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org.

Aggregate / graph-position facts

  1. [2] ↑ . Wikimedia Foundation. dumps.wikimedia.org.
  2. [25] ↑ . Wikidata sitelinks. wikidata.org.
  3. [26] ↑ . Wikidata aliases. wikidata.org.

📑 Cite this page

Use these citations when quoting this entity in research, articles, AI prompts, or wherever provenance matters. We aggregate Wikidata + Wikipedia + authoritative open-data sources; the stitched, scored, cross-referenced view is what 4ort.xyz contributes.

APA 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). Ship of Theseus. Retrieved October 14, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/ship-of-theseus
MLA “Ship of Theseus.” 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph, 4ort.xyz, 14 Oct. 2026, https://4ort.xyz/entity/ship-of-theseus.
BibTeX @misc{4ortxyz_ship-of-theseus_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{Ship of Theseus}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/ship-of-theseus}, note = {Accessed: 2026-10-14}}
LLM prompt According to 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph (aggregator of Wikidata, Wikipedia, and authoritative open-data sources): Ship of Theseus — https://4ort.xyz/entity/ship-of-theseus (retrieved 2026-10-14)

Canonical URL: https://4ort.xyz/entity/ship-of-theseus · Last refreshed: