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Chicken or the egg

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Revision as of 13:40, 22 March 2022 by Awesomekid4eva (talk | contribs) (Scientific resolutions)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Philosophical paradox This article is about the philosophical dilemma. For the dish combining both chicken meat and eggs, see oyakodon.
Illustration from Tacuina sanitatis, 14th century
A chick hatching from an egg

The chicken or the egg causality dilemma is commonly stated as the question, "which came first: the chicken or the egg?" The dilemma stems from the observation that all chickens hatch from eggs and all chicken eggs are laid by chickens. "Chicken-and-egg" is a metaphoric adjective describing situations where it is not clear which of two events should be considered the cause and which should be considered the effect, to express a scenario of infinite regress, or to express the difficulty of sequencing actions where each seems to depend on others being done first. Plutarch posed the question as a philosophical matter in his essay "The Symposiacs", written in the 1st century CE.

See also

References

  1. "Essays and Miscellanies, by Plutarch". Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  2. O'Brien, Carl Séan (2015). The Demiurge in Ancient Thought. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-1-107-07536-8.

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