2006-09-15 11:47:21 · 45 answers · asked by Cool Dude 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
The chicken or the egg is a reference to the causality dilemma which arises from the expression "which came first, the chicken or the egg?". Since both the chicken and the egg create the other in certain circumstances (a chicken emerges from an egg; an egg is laid by a chicken) it is ambiguous which originally gave rise to the other. Purely logical attempts to resolve the dilemma result in an infinite regress, since an egg was caused by a chicken, which was caused by an egg, etc. Since every chicken originates from its egg, it seems obvious the egg came first. Put simply, the reason is down to the fact that genetic material does not change during an animal's life. The solution may require an examination of syntax and may rely on verification from advances in modern genetic science. When used in reference to difficult problems of causality, the chicken and egg dilemma is often used to appeal to the futility of debate and lay it to rest.
History of the problem
The earliest reference to the dilemma is found in Plutarch's Moralia, in the books titled "Table Talk," in a series of arguments based on questions posed in a symposium. Under the section entitled, "Whether the hen or the egg came first," the discussion is introduced in such a way as to suggest that the origin of the dilemma was even older:
"...the problem about the egg and the hen, which of them came first, was dragged into our talk, a difficult problem which gives investigators much trouble. And Sulla my comrade said that with a small problem, as with a tool, we were rocking loose a great and heavy one, that of the creation of the world..."
Various answers have been formulated in response to the question, many of them humorous.
2006-09-16 20:14:05 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The fact that we cannot make sense out of such a simple question shows the quandry that we are all in and how even the smallest decision is complicated by contrary impulses. We can say that a chicken egg was a mutation from another species; we can say that the first microorganism was an abberation of nature due to lightning striking chemical water mixed with other elements however ultimately this thought takes us to a creator and as of yet the only creator that we have is that which we put into the fables that we call scripture (the Bible, Koran, myths of Buddha, the Torah or Old Testament, et cetera). Our minds are too puny to comprehend how it all came about so I recommend that we just go to a restaurant and order some bacon and eggs. Oh no, I am a vegetarian.
2006-09-15 12:55:44 · answer #2 · answered by Steven S 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well the way that I see it, Even if the egg was here before the chicken the chicken came first, because eggs don't have sex.
2006-09-18 13:53:08 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'd have to say the egg because the chicken will have evolved from another animal.So for the chicken to come into being the egg will have to be first so that it can hatch to become the chicken.
2006-09-17 02:59:48 · answer #4 · answered by kas 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Knowledge and logic can only come to one conclusion..Unless one has raised chickens, they may not know that an egg requires a hen to sit on it to keep it warm, long enough to have it hatch. Therefore, there had to be a hen to lay the egg and allow it to hatch. Unless it was a clone, there also had to be a rooster present. Now we are back to the Ark.
2006-09-15 12:22:32 · answer #5 · answered by mrcricket1932 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Without an egg there is no chicken. Where the egg came from is the question.
2006-09-15 11:55:00 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
God made Adam Rooster. Adam Rooster was lonely so God took a rib from him and made Eve Hen.
Thus, Adam Chicken and Eve Chicken made Cain Egg and Abel Egg.
2006-09-15 14:07:54 · answer #7 · answered by Sun is Shining ❂ 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Let me ask you a question as an answer to yours: what was the first human on Earth: the man or the woman? so now- where would we start? if you manage to find the answer to this, then you will be able to work out the answer for your EGG OR CHICKEN.....:)
2006-09-15 11:59:44 · answer #8 · answered by Daiva Quinn 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
THE EGG came first. Think of it this way: The chicken could be first, but then where did it come from? From an egg. And that egg was laid not by another chicken, but by the stage of evolution that came BEFORE the chicken. In order for the chicken to have truly come into this world, it would have had to evolve from a former species. The first chicken probably hatched from a former species (of course, the animal became a chicken over hundreds of thousands of years of evolution...I think...(if I'm way short on this number or blowing it way out of proportion, please correct me).
2006-09-15 11:52:08 · answer #9 · answered by Display Name 3 · 1⤊ 3⤋
Chicken, because an egg can't survive without the mother hen sitting on it.
2006-09-15 11:57:20 · answer #10 · answered by justguess45 s 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋