In the early second century A.D., Plutarch sparked a rumble over a simple question — if a ship has had all its pieces replaced one by one, is it still the same ship?

A philosophical conundrum ever since and long before, people around the world are divided on the debate. Pre-Socratics such as Heraclitus and post-Socratics like Plato have all weighed in as their semi-destroyed manuscripts and disintegrating papyrus fragments rack up millions of reads.

With such a pressing issue, there’s only one place to turn to for answers. University of Maryland students recently gave us their thoughts on the paradox and chose their solutions.

Ari S. Totle, a senior Philosophy and Biological Sciences double major, believes the answer lies in four causes, or reasons, of identity. “So obviously you’ve got the formal, material, final, and efficient right? That’s, like, your design, matter, intended purpose, you know, that stuff. With the ship though, with the ship it’s like, the essence of it man.”

One student put their own spin on the paradox. “Imagine that as pieces of the ship are replaced, some random guy takes them and starts building a second ship out of all the old pieces,” said Tommy Hobb, a freshman Philosophy, Politics, and Economics major. “Which ship is the real ship then? That’s the question you should be asking.”

Hobb continued to lecture us on the specifics of his version of the paradox, insisting it was simply a question of “form versus matter,” even as our reporters walked away.

Other students didn’t care quite as much. Aerospace Engineering junior Dio Gene had only this to say: “It’s a fuckin’ boat man, why are you askin’ me about this.”

In other news, UMD students have settled another — much less pressing — debate concerning some men and a gorilla.

Image Credits: Kenlynn Ingham