Vern's Volvo: A Philosophical Debate

Vern’s Volvo is the one he’s been driving for twenty years, not the heap of parts. Even if Grace recreated the Volvo exactly, it would still not be Vern’s Volvo.

The word “Vern’s” infers ownership. When one owns a car, he takes care of it, pays the bills, and assumes responsibility for all the parts inside it.

The original Volvo, before any parts were replaced, was Vern’s. However, as soon as he picked up the car from the shop with the new part(s) in it, he once again assumed ownership of the car, but this time his car included the new part(s). This happened each subsequent time until his car was not made up of any of the original parts.

As soon as one of the original parts did not physically make up the Volvo Vern was driving, it lost all ownership connection with him. For example, let’s say that Vern collected trading cards. Once he traded a card in exchange for another, what was once his card was now another’s. Just because the card was once Vern’s does not mean that it continues to be Vern’s after it is knowingly and willingly traded.

Additionally, even if Vern thought he retained some ownership of those parts after they were removed from his car, he believed them to be destroyed or otherwise used in other cars. His perception was that there was no way for the part to be reincorporated into the Volvo he was driving. This would reinforce even more the fact that the parts did not belong to his Volvo.

As a counterargument, one might present the idea that Vern’s emotional attachment to the Volvo made of the original parts makes it his Volvo. However, take for example a house. Mr. and Mrs. White sell their first house to Mr. and Mrs. Green. Mr. and Mrs. White have a huge emotional attachment to the house because it was, for example, where their child took his first steps. However, as soon as the deed is in the name of Mr. and Mrs. Green, the Whites can no longer call the house theirs. In the same way, no matter how much Vern loved his car, as soon as he pays for Grace to remove and replace the parts, they no longer belong to him.

If Grace decided to recreate the Volvo, it would not be Vern’s. As previously discussed, Vern lost all ownership to the previous parts as soon as he took responsibility for the new parts. Vern would have no more ownership of Grace’s Volvo than he would have ownership over one of the thousands of identical-looking cars Volvo makes in a year.

Vern’s Volvo is constantly changing, just as many things do in the world. As soon as a part in changed or a bug hits the windshield, the definition of what Vern’s Volvo is must mutate slightly to include the change. However, as soon as the definition is narrowed, Vern’s Volvo of the past is no longer Vern’s Volvo of the present.

Who Knew Philosophy Was This Hard?

            To know oneself is to understand every aspect of one’s personality, thoughts, and emotions. It is to completely discover who you are. In the philosophical sense, it is not just knowing what kind of food you like or what your favorite color is, but to comprehend exactly what and who you are at the most basic level. The goal of knowing oneself completely is that, by understanding yourself, you can understand all other humans and the human condition.

            This knowledge is important to both an individual and the community as a whole. On a large scale, if you can understand the human condition, or even a single aspect of it, you can change the world. There would be no need to class or racial or ethnic distinctions because everyone is on the same level (except, or course, for the aliens). Individually, self-knowledge can lead to fulfillment of life. If I know every aspect of myself, I can better understand what will make me feel happy and satisfied.

My own greatest weakness is that I only put in the bare minimum of work to get a job done. For example, if I know that I can write a single draft for an essay for English, then that’s what I’ll do, even if the essay would be better with a second draft. This negatively affects things like college applications. While I can get away with one draft for school, I cannot do something like that for college. But, I’ve been so trained to write something quickly and then submit it that I find it extremely difficult to try to edit my own work. This quality also contributes to my procrastination. I know that I’ll be able to complete the homework, so I wait and wait to do it until the absolute last minute. I try to change my behavior by obsessively planning my life in my agenda pad, but, even as I’m scheduling my life, I know it’s never going to turn out that way.

My best quality is that I have the ability to juggle a lot of things at once. Interestingly enough, this is only possible because of my worst quality. A lot of people seem surprised that, as a senior, I’m taking AP Chemistry, AP Physics, AP Calc AB, Honors Latin, Honors Humanities, and Music Theory. I also do ballet between ten and fifteen hours a week in addition to being active in my church and taking piano lessons. But, it’s not as if I have a 4.0 GPA, am going to be a professional ballerina, or am a virtuoso. I have to sacrifice some quality for quantity. If I have a chemistry test the same day I have a physics test (which, thankfully, has only happened once this year), I’m not going to have time to study adequately for both of them, especially because I have other homework on top of it. I have the ability to do all of these things, so I choose to do them. This feeds directly into another facet of my worst quality, which is that I’m pretty good at a lot of things, but I don’t have one clear strength.

Admitting my worst quality and accurately portraying my best quality are really difficult. Foremost, it is difficult to figure out what qualities are my best and worst. I’m bad and good at a lot of things, but to figure out what the underlying issue is tough. My worst quality is something that I don’t want to admit, mostly to myself. I feel that once I can identify the problem, then I’m responsible for fixing it. But, my worst quality being laziness, it makes it doubly difficult to fix the problem because to fix it will require work. Describing my best quality is equally as difficult because I’m trying not to brag, but I’m also trying not to be modest. It’s a delicate balance to strike, and it’s extremely hard to find it. It’s uncomfortable to say, “Hey, look at how awesome I am,” and it’s equally as uncomfortable to say, “I really am terrible at these things.” To try to understand myself requires a patience which I do not always possess, and to tell other people what I’ve learned takes a bit of courage because, once you admit it, there’s no taking it back.