The Ship of Theseus Dissolved: Identity, Persistence, and Eigenform Continuity Under Configurational Realism

The Ship of Theseus paradox has persisted for over two millennia because the dominant ontological frameworks—substance metaphysics and various forms of nominalism—lack the conceptual resources to dissolve it. This paper argues that configurational realism, grounded in the ontology of horismata and eigenforms, provides a principled dissolution of the paradox by distinguishing between eigenform continuity and material instantiation. We further address the deeper worry that configuration-without-substrate is unintelligible, arguing from mathematical, physical, and theological considerations that configuration is ontologically primitive. The Trinitarian constitution of divine Persons through pure relations provides the ultimate metaphysical ground for the primacy of configuration over substance.