Obviously, a match with the chemical coating on the head has a wooden part that we call a matchstick.
Does removing this coating and leaving only the wood make that object no longer a matchstick? It seems the community has decided it does not.
But is any piece of wood a matchstick? I'd argue it is not, it's just a piece of wood. It's the addition of the chemical head that turns it from lumber into a match, if that hasn't happened yet - or doesn't happen ever, then there's nothing match-like about it.
Otherwise I could argue that my 2-story house is built of matchsticks, they're just still in 2x4 form 8 feet long, having not been sawn down yet, and (to comply with fire code) not yet coated.
Before Theseus departed on his journey, were the trees that would eventually be used to repair his ship considered to be already the Ship of Theseus, planks and spars still hidden in trees like a statue in marble that hadn't even been quarried yet?
> Before Theseus departed on his journey, were the trees that would eventually be used to repair his ship considered to be already the Ship of Theseus, planks and spars still hidden in trees like a statue in marble that hadn't even been quarried yet?
> Maybe after, but not before!
What about the planks ordered and bought to build the ship ?
> It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.
Obviously, a match with the chemical coating on the head has a wooden part that we call a matchstick.
Does removing this coating and leaving only the wood make that object no longer a matchstick? It seems the community has decided it does not.
But is any piece of wood a matchstick? I'd argue it is not, it's just a piece of wood. It's the addition of the chemical head that turns it from lumber into a match, if that hasn't happened yet - or doesn't happen ever, then there's nothing match-like about it.
Otherwise I could argue that my 2-story house is built of matchsticks, they're just still in 2x4 form 8 feet long, having not been sawn down yet, and (to comply with fire code) not yet coated.
Before Theseus departed on his journey, were the trees that would eventually be used to repair his ship considered to be already the Ship of Theseus, planks and spars still hidden in trees like a statue in marble that hadn't even been quarried yet?
Maybe after, but not before!