Chicken or the egg

A chick hatching from an egg

The chicken or the egg causality dilemma is commonly stated as "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" To ancient philosophers, the question about the first chicken or egg also evoked the questions of how life and the universe in general began.[1]

Philosophical resolutions

If there has been a first man he must have been born without father or mother which is repugnant to nature. For there could not have been a first egg to give a beginning to birds, or there should have been a first bird which gave a beginning to eggs; for a bird comes from an egg.[2]

The same he held good for all species, believing, with Plato, "that everything before it appeared on earth had first its being in spirit."[3]

The bud disappears when the blossom breaks through, and we might say that the former is refuted by the latter; in the same way when the fruit comes, the blossom may be explained to be a false form of the plant’s existence, for the fruit appears as its true nature in place of the blossom. These stages are not merely differentiated; they supplant one another as being incompatible with one another. But the ceaseless activity of their own inherent nature makes them, at the same time, moments of an organic unity, where they not merely do not contradict one another, but where one is as necessary as the other; and this equal necessity of all moments constitutes alone and thereby the life of the whole.

Scientific resolutions

In common parlance

It has been argued that the transformation to alternative fuels for vehicles faces a chicken-and-egg problem: "It is not economical for individuals to purchase vehicles using alternative fuels absent sufficient refueling stations, and it is not economical for fuel dealers to open stations absent sufficient alternative fuel vehicles".[7]

See also

References

  1. Theosophy (September 1939). "Ancient Landmarks: Plato and Aristotle". Theosophy 27 (11): 483–491. Archived from the original on February 2013.
  2. François Fénelon: Abrégé des vies des anciens philosophes, Paris 1726, p. 314 (French). Translation: Lives of the ancient philosophers, London 1825, p. 202 (English)
  3. Blavatsky, H.P. (1877). Isis Unveiled. pp. I, 426–428.
  4. Engber, Daniel (2013). "FYI: Which Came First, The Chicken Or The Egg?". Popular Science (Bonnier Corporation) 282 (3): 78. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  5. 1 2 Dawkins, Richard; McKean, Dave (2012-09-11). The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781451675047.
  6. Dawkins, Richard; McKean, Dave (2012-09-11). The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True. Simon and Schuster. p. 38. ISBN 9781451675047.
  7. Saving Energy in U.S. Transportation (PDF). U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment. 1994. OTA-ETI-589.
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