X-Message-Number: 27645
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 12:42:42 -0500
From: Daniel Crevier <>
Subject: cloisters again
References: <>

These cloisters in New York are great fun as an intuition pump, to use
Daniel Dennett's telling phrase. Here is a thought experiment showing that
identity preservation, as most people conceive of it, does allow
disassembly.

Suppose one of the cloisters is found to have been imported illegally, and
the museum is ordered to return it. Can their legal counsel keep a straight
face and say "Sorry, we don't have the cloister. You see, it was
disassembled, and our philosophers tell us it is no longer the same..."?

If a cloister can be disassembled, why not Kirk?

Daniel Crevier

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