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Theseus was the mythical king and founder of Athens. Many myths surrounding Theseus and his journeys are recounted by the Greek historian Plutarch. Among them is the legend of Theseus slaying the half-man half-bull Minotaur, and the thought experiment we now know as the ship of Theseus.
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According to Plutarch’s Life of Theseus the ship Theseus used on his return from Crete to Athens was kept in the Athenian harbor for several centuries as a memorial. As Plutarch puts it:
“The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned from Crete had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians…for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their places…”
That is, the ship was kept as a museum piece and, as the wooden parts began to rot they were replaced by new parts so that in time every part of the ship had been replaced. Plutarch then asks us to consider if the ship has been so heavily repaired that it is no longer the same ship. Does it remain the same ship even if it was entirely replaced piece by piece?
Centuries later the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy, introduced a further complication to the puzzle of the ship of Theseus. He wondered what the case would be if the original ship planks were gathered up, cured of their rot and then used to build a second ship. Hobbes then asked which ship, if either, would be the original ship of Theseus.
When does the ship of Theseus stop being the ship of Theseus? Philosophers also use this thought experiment to explore which “you” is you. Are you the person you are today? The person you were ten years ago? Or the person you will be in ten years? In other words, what makes “you” you?
As a thought experiment the ship of Theseus raises the question of identity: Does an entity that has all its components replaced remain fundamentally the same entity? And if not, at what point does the entity stop being the same entity? When a rock band, such as Blood, Sweat, and Tears, replaces all its members, is it still Blood, Sweat, and Tears?
I beg the readers indulgence for this philosophical digression, but is serves to set up the metaphysical spirit of my question: After over six decades of being taken apart piece by piece by totalitarian rule, is Cuba still Cuba?
Like the planks of Theseus’ ship, the social, political, educational, and economic institutions of Republican Cuba have been taken apart since 1959. Moreover, some twenty percent of Cuba’s population has left the country, properties have been redistributed, a new sociopolitical and economic ideology has been introduced, and Cuba’s history has been rewritten so that newer generations have a distorted view of the past. So, is Cuba still Cuba?
I ask the question as someone who left the country over sixty years ago and has never returned. Certainly, time does not stand still, and today’s Cuba cannot be the Cuba of my youth. That is an intellectually uninteresting observation. My contention goes much further; I believe that Cuba’s fundamental identity has changed.
Not unlike Theseus’ ship, Cuba has experienced a gradual loss of its identity as its parts were replaced. In other words, what made “Cuba” Cuba has changed and not for the better.
Those of my generation, that dream of Cuba as they left it decades ago, may despair at this pessimistic assessment that the Cuba we knew has, in fact, ceased to exist. Yet, I take solace in Thomas Hobbes’ observation on the puzzle of the ship of Theseus. Recall from above that Hobbes wondered what the case would be if the original ship planks were gathered up, cured of their rot and then used to build a second ship. Hobbes then asked which ship, if either, would be the original ship of Theseus.
That has happened, and the authentic Cuba is the one Cubans have built in South Florida.
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