For the people whove been asking me the riddle Which came first the chicken or the egg ? Heres my thesis 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. Cultural references to the Chicken and Egg intend to point out the futility of identifying the first case of a circular cause and consequence. It could be considered that in this approach lies the most fundamental nature of the question. A literal answer is an egg according to some people, as egg-laying species pre-date the existence of chickens. To others, the chicken came first, seeing as chickens are merely domesticated Red Junglefowls. However, the metaphorical view sets a metaphysical ground to the dilemma. To better understand its metaphorical meaning, the question could be reformulated as: Which came first, X that cant come without Y, or Y that cant come without X? An equivalent situation arises in engineering and science known as circular reference, in which a parameter is required to calculate that parameter itself. Examples are Van der Waals equation and the Colebrook equation.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 13:09:11 +0000