[This entry was edited on
August 5, 2004 to remove the text of M.R.M. Parrott's email to me. See my comments for
details.]
A while back, I made the
connection between Neurath’s Boat and the Ship of Theseus. I thought the lack
of connection elsewhere on the Web was interesting. Only a site by M.R.M.
Parrott mentioned both terms, but there is no mention of a connection.
I
guess I forgot to post this discovery back in January (surprise). I’m posting
it now because I’ve made another interesting connection, IMO. Both metaphors
are examples of dissipative
structures (aka dissipative systems): A dissipative [structure] is characterized by the
appearance of stability, but is continually changing. A simple example is a whirlpool: a
similar shape is maintained, while water is continually moving through it. More
complex examples include lasers, Bénard
cells, and even life
itself. The term dissipative
structures was coined by Ilya Prigogine.
Thus this seemingly
paradoxical boat (or ship) is simply a dissipative structure whose compositional
materials are continually flowing through it (albeit at a much slower pace than
a whirlpool). Of course this means that it is both the crew and the boat that
are the dissipative structure, unless the boat is imagined to be autonomic,
i.e., self repairing.
As you philosophers are well aware, this
coincidence of opposites (a
term coined by Nicholas of Cusa—see “NICHOLAS OF
CUSA (1401-1464): FIRST MODERN PHILOSOPHER?” for an excellent overview, “One can identify at least sixteen Cusan
themes that have a peculiarly Modern ring to them and on the basis of which
Nicholas has been deemed to occupy a special relationship to Modernity.”)—stability and change—permeates all
our concepts. For an excellent essay on the roots of this fundamental unity of
opposing aspects and how it has been transformed and extended to myriad
contemporary dichotomies see EARLY GREEK THOUGHT AND PERSPECTIVES FOR THE INTERPRETATION OF
QUANTUM MECHANICS: PRELIMINARIES TO AN ONTOLOGICAL APPROACH. I am also in the process of connecting
all of this to the concept of a limit (thanks to
Keith), which is a kind of attractive fixed
point (related to a fixed point), which is a kind of attractor, which comes full
circle back to dissipative structures.
7:03:24 AM 
