which came first, the chicken or the egg ???

Answer 1

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.

As suggested by the alternative definitions and solutions given below, the chicken-or-egg dilemma has multiple semantic variants and can thus be viewed as an exercise in semantics. Regarding at least two of these variants, the field of biology contains decisive contextual information. Although the problem has been around in one form or another for millennia, making it difficult or impossible to know who first "solved" it, the biological information needed to resolve all of the obvious semantic variants has only been available for decades.

A modern analysis covering all of the major variants was authored by Christopher Langan, published in 2001 on the Mega Foundation website[1], and subsequently included in his book of essays, The Art of Knowing [1]. It appeared again in The Improper Hamptonian [2], was included in abbreviated form in a 2001 Long Island Newsday Q&A column featuring Langan [3], and was compactly summarized in Langan's 2001 Popular Science interview.

A CNN article on May 26, 2006 featured an analysis, according to which the egg came first [2]. The key criteria on which CNN bases its answer, involving relatively recent findings from reproductive and evolutionary biology, are identical to several of those cited in the prior analysis.

Answer 2

Has to be the EGG as the chicken would have had to be born out of an egg. There was probably a mutation from the animal that laid the egg to create the chicken in the egg. Hope this helps!

Answer 3

Oh yet again i'm answering this question.

they answered this finally a matter of months ago. an egg has the ability to change its genetic make up, to evolve, a chicken doesn't. therefore the egg came first as it was the egg of a something else that evolved into a chicken.

voila.

Answer 4

Theologically speaking the chicken came first.

God created birds on the fifth day, thereafter came the egg! There is no reference to the creation of the egg in the bible.

Answer 5

I read about this in a news paper. It did say the egg came first.

Answer 6

the egg came first because in the time of the dinosaurs, dinosaurs came from eggs and there were no chickens in that time/period..so i say the egg came first.

Answer 7

The Chicken. God made the animals, not eggs.

Answer 8

you will find that science has already answer this question it is evolution and the egg came first and toke many hundreds of years before the 1st chicken was born.

Answer 9

The Egg......an embryo only forms into something when it is in the egg......therefore the chicken was formed in the egg and obviously hatched into the chicken..........hope that helps.

Answer 10

Chicken Pie first.