[Kigreg]

If you step into a river, then go have a picnic, then go back to the river and step into it - is it the same river?


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[Vixen47]

Nope. The water has changed/been replaced with new water.

[Steevee]

Same river different water.

If I put my finger in a cup of water, then pour the water out, put fresh water in, and stick my finger in it again. Is my finger in the same cup? Yep.

[DanLorenzo]

Mind = blown

[viriol]

(Original post by Kigreg)
If you step into a river, then go have a picnic, then go back to the river and step into it - is it the same river?


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

In ten years from now none of the molecules that make up your body today will exist in your body. If I touch your body today, then go have a picnic for ten years, then go back to touching it - is it still the same body?

[Pitt1988]

Hmmmm great question. I'll just go and ask Aristotle..

[KyraBloke]

If i rape somebody, go into hiding for 10 years with a large picnic basket, then i get caught, can i get away with it because i'm not the same person - non of the molecules i had when i committed the rape are in me now.

[viriol]

(Original post by Pitt1988)
Hmmmm great question. I'll just go and ask Aristotle..

You mean Thales, right?

[Pitt1988]

(Original post by viriol)
You mean Thales, right?

The godfather of thought.

[blacklistmember]

(Original post by viriol)
In ten years from now none of the molecules that make up your body today will exist in your body. If I touch your body today, then go have a picnic for ten years, then go back to touching it - is it still the same body?

and anyway, doesn't every particle flash into and out of existence 10^34 times each second

the idea of something being permanent is just an illusion

[IWantSomeMushu]

>Philosophy.

[Mille Plateaux]

(Original post by viriol)

(Original post by Pitt1988)
Hmmmm great question. I'll just go and ask Aristotle..

You mean Thales, right?

You both mean Heraclitus:

"You could not step twice into the same river; for other waters are ever flowing on to you. "

What Hericlitus is getting it is that the world, and the particles within it are in constant spatial flux as well as being moved through time. As all particles are constantly being displaced in both time and space nothing can ever be the same, neither the person stepping nor the river. Therefore you can never step twice into the same river.

[viriol]

(Original post by blacklistmember)
and anyway, doesn't every particle flash into and out of existence 10^34 times each second

Not really. We just assume that there are some which do so in such a way that they cannot be detected.

[viriol]

(Original post by Mille Plateaux)
You both mean Heraclitus:

"You could not step twice into the same river; for other waters are ever flowing on to you. "

What Hericlitus is getting it is that the world, and the particles within it are in constant spatial flux as well as being moved through time. As all particles are constantly being displaced in both time and space nothing can ever be the same, neither the person stepping nor the river. Therefore you can never step twice into the same river.

Ooops! Ashamed - you are correct!