What philosophical thought experiment takes its name from the legendary vessel used by Theseus?

The philosophical thought experiment is called the Ship of Theseus. It asks whether an object remains the same object after all its parts have been replaced over time.

The example comes from the legendary ship that Athenians preserved in Theseus’s honor. Plutarch wrote that the Athenians maintained the vessel by replacing decayed timbers, creating a puzzle about whether it was still Theseus’s original ship.

Later philosophers expanded the question by imagining that the removed planks were collected and rebuilt into another ship. The problem explores identity, continuity and the relationship between an object and its material parts. Although the Minotaur legend supplies the name, the thought experiment is philosophical rather than a further episode in the myth.