Who am I? A philosophical inquiry - Amy Adkins

Kdo sem jaz? Filozofsko vprašanje - Amy Adkins

Translator: Klavdija Cernilogar Reviewer: Matej Divjak

Throughout the history of mankind,

Skozi zgodovino človeštva

three little words have sent poets to the blank page,

so tri besede gnale pesnike pred list papirja,

philosophers to the Agora,

filozofe v Agoro

and seekers to the oracles:

in iskalce v orakelj:

"Who am I?"

"Kdo sem jaz?"

From the ancient Greek aphorism inscribed on the Temple of Apollo,

Od antičnega grškega aforizma iz Apolonovega templja,

"Know thyself,"

"Spoznaj samega sebe",

to The Who's rock anthem, "Who Are You?"

do rockovske himne "Kdo si" skupine The Who

philosophers, psychologists, academics,

filozofi, psihologi, akademiki,

scientists, artists, theologians and politicians

znanstveniki, umetniki, teologi in politiki

have all tackled the subject of identity.

raziskujejo vprašanje identitete.

Their hypotheses are widely varied and lack significant consensus.

Hipoteze so različne in manjka jim konsenz.

These are smart, creative people,

Gre za pametne, kreativne ljudi,

so what's so hard about coming up with the right answer?

zakaj je potem tako težko najti pravi odgovor?

One challenge certainly lies

Eden od izzivov je povezan z zapleteno idejo trajne identitete.

with the complex concept of the persistence of identity.

Which you is who?

Kateri "ti" je kdo?

The person you are today?

Tisto, kar si danes?

Five years ago?

Pred petimi leti?

Who you'll be in 50 years?

Kar boš čez 50 let?

And when is "am"?

In kdaj je "sem"?

This week?

Ta teden?

Today?

Danes?

This hour?

To uro?

This second?

To sekundo?

And which aspect of you is "I"?

In kateri del tebe je "jaz"?

Are you your physical body?

Tvoje fizično telo?

Your thoughts and feelings?

Tvoje misli in čustva?

Your actions?

Tvoja dejanja?

These murky waters of abstract logic are tricky to navigate,

Te kalne vode abstraktne logike je težko prepluti,

and so it's probably fitting that to demonstrate the complexity,

zato verjetno ni čudno, da je za ilustracijo te zapletenosti

the Greek historian Plutarch used the story of a ship.

grški zgodovinar Plutarh uporabil zgodbo o ladji.

How are you "I"?

V čem je tvoj "jaz"?

As the tale goes, Theseus, the mythical founder King of Athens,

Zgodba pravi, da je kralj Tezej, mitski ustanovitelj Aten,

single-handedly slayed the evil Minotaur at Crete,

lastnoročno pokončal zlobnega Minotavra na Kreti

then returned home on a ship.

in se z ladjo vrnil domov.

To honor this heroic feat,

Da bi obeležili to herojsko dejanje,

for 1000 years Athenians painstakingly maintained his ship in the harbor,

so Atenci tisoč let skrbno ohranjali njegovo ladjo v luki

and annually reenacted his voyage.

ter vsako leto uprizorili njegovo pot.

Whenever a part of the ship was worn or damaged,

Ko se je del ladje izrabil ali poškodoval,

it was replaced with an identical piece of the same material

so ga zamenjali z enakim delom iz istega materiala,

until, at some point, no original parts remained.

tako da so sčasoma nadomestili vse dele ladje.

Plutarch noted the Ship of Theseus

Plutarh je menil, da je Tezejeva ladja

was an example of the philosophical paradox

primer filozofskega paradoksa,

revolving around the persistence of identity.

povezanega s trajno identiteto.

How can every single part of something be replaced,

Kako lahko zamenjamo vse dele nečesa,

yet it still remains the same thing?

pa bo to v celoti še vedno ista stvar?

Let's imagine there are two ships:

Predstavljajmo si dve ladji:

the ship that Theseus docked in Athens, Ship A,

ladjo A, s katero je Tezej pristal v Atenah,

and the ship sailed by the Athenians 1000 years later, Ship B.

in ladjo, s katero so Atenci pluli tisoč let kasneje, ladjo B.

Very simply, our question is this: does A equal B?

Enostavno vprašanje: je ladja A enaka ladji B?

Some would say that for 1000 years there has been only one Ship of Theseus,

Nekateri menijo, da je vseh tisoč let obstajala le ena ladja,

and because the changes made to it happened gradually,

in ker so bile spremembe na njej postopne,

it never at any point in time stopped being the legendary ship.

nikoli ni nehala biti legendarna ladja.

Though they have absolutely no parts in common,

Čeprav nimata skupnega niti enega dela,

the two ships are numerically identical, meaning one and the same,

sta ladji numerično enaki, gre za eno in isto ladjo,

so A equals B.

torej je A enako B.

However, others could argue that Theseus never set foot on Ship B,

Drugi trdijo, da Tezej nikoli ni stopil na ladjo B,

and his presence on the ship is an essential qualitative property

njegova prisotnost na ladji pa je bistvena lastnost Tezejeve ladje.

of the Ship of Theseus.

It cannot survive without him.

Brez njega ne obstaja.

So, though the two ships are numerically identical,

Čeprav sta obe ladji numerično enaki,

they are not qualitatively identical.

sta kakovostno neenaki.

Thus, A does not equal B.

Torej A ni enako B.

But what happens when we consider this twist?

Kaj se zgodi, če upoštevamo ta preskok?

What if, as each piece of the original ship was cast off,

Kaj če bi originalne dele ladje

somebody collected them all, and rebuilt the entire original ship?

nekdo zbiral in potem nazaj sestavil celotno prvotno ladjo?

When it was finished, undeniably two physical ships would exist:

Potem bi brez dvoma obstajali dve ladji:

the one that's docked in Athens,

tista, privezana v Atenah,

and the one in some guy's backyard.

in tale na dvorišču nekega tipa.

Each could lay claim to the title, "The Ship of Theseus,"

Obe bi se lahko imenovali Tezejeva ladja,

but only would could actually be the real thing.

a samo ena bi bila prava.

So which one is it,

Katera?

and more importantly, what does this have to do with you?

In še pomembneje: kaj ima to opraviti s teboj?

Like the Ship of Theseus,

Kot Tezejeva ladja

you are a collection of constantly changing parts:

si celota stalno spreminjajočih se delov:

your physical body, mind, emotions, circumstances, and even your quirks,

fizičnega telesa, uma, čustev, okoliščin, celo svojih posebnosti,

always changing, but still in an amazing and sometimes illogical way,

se vedno spreminjaš, a vseeno na čudovit in včasih nelogičen način

you stay the same, too.

tudi ostajaš enak.

This is one of the reasons that the question, "Who am I?" is so complex.

Tudi zato je vprašanje "Kdo sem jaz?" tako zapleteno.

And in order to answer it,

Da bi odgovoril nanj,

like so many great minds before you,

se moraš, kot mnogi veleumi pred teboj,

you must be willing to dive into the bottomless ocean of philosophical paradox.

biti pripravljen spustiti v neskončni ocean filozofskih paradoksov.

Or maybe you could just answer,

Lahko pa odgovoriš tudi takole:

"I am a legendary hero sailing a powerful ship on an epic journey."

"Sem legendarni junak, ki močno ladjo vodi na epsko potovanje."

That could work, too.

Tudi to bi delovalo.