our question is this:does A equal B?

Very simply, our question is this:does A equal B?Some would say that for 1000 years there has been only one Ship of Theseus,
and because the changes made to it happened gradually,it never at any point in time stopped being the legendary ship.Though they have absolutely no parts in common,the two ships are numerically identical,meaning one and the same,so A equals B.However, others could argue that Theseus never set foot on Ship B,and his presence on the ship is an essential qualitative property of the Ship of Theseus.It cannot survive without him.