When can we say that two things are the same?
Updated: Sep 15
Our Philosophy for Children (P4C) session began with a deceptively simple question: When can we say that two things are the same? The children brought pairs of objects they considered identical; pencils, coins, pins, toys, paper cups and sticky notes and we began by asking what exactly made each pair “the same.”
Their first ideas centred around appearance, purpose, properties and material. But each criterion raised another question. If a bus and a coin were made in the same year, does that make them the same? If two things look identical but are used differently, are they still the same?
We then read The Hueys in the New Jumper. The Hueys looked the same, thought the same and did the same things until one of them made a different choice. This opened up a different line of thinking. Can two people be the same if they have different names, feelings, preferences or ways of thinking?
From there, the conversation moved from objects and characters to ourselves. If so much about us changes as we grow, what makes you the same person over time?
The children wondered whether it was our name, parents, choices, genetics, ancestors or simply the continuity of our existence. One child suggested something particularly interesting: “You keep changing over time, and that is something that stays the same over time.”
And that left us with a wonderful paradox. We had begun by looking for something that remains unchanged.
Could change itself be the thing that remains constant?
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