Witnessing the Evolution of Philosophy

Ōmori Shōzō and the Emergence of the Tokyo School of Japanese Philosophy

Tokyo University’s Red Gate — Photo by (Used Under Creative Commons)

The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned from Crete had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demetrius Phalereus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and strong timber in their places, insomuch that this ship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logical question of things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same. — Plutarch, Life of Theseus, 23.1

This dilemma posed by Plutarch has come to be known as the Ship of Theseus problem. In simple terms, how much can something change before it is no longer the same thing?

This question can even be applied to philosophy itself. How much can philosophy change before it can no longer be called philosophy?

The question is too big to answer in a single book, or even in several volumes. In keeping with philosophical tradition, to address such an issue it is wise to break the problem down into something more manageable. Rather than considering philosophy as a whole, let us look at a subfield of philosophy, and my area of expertise, Japanese philosophy.