Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

The shadow symbolizes the uncertainty of in-between? I can't say I've read or looked up Eliot's work but what you shared here is a pretty good one. Both would go well with a green salad that I'm craving right now.

I will start answering you on the religious point of view. The world was created and filled with animals by God so in that sense we could say that a pair of chicken was first made by God and then they populated the world by laying eggs... Thus we can get the idea of Chicken comes first before egg... On the scientific point of view there can never be an egg without a chicken... Naturaly it is impossible to have the egg come first before the chicken because without the chicken looking over and sitting on the egg, it will never hatch and there fore no more chicken.... But here is the best part... You can view this dilemma on a more scientific approach which is that what if, the first one to have a chicken egg was not a chicken? Yes this is the Law of evolution that over a period of time and at certain condition, another breed of animals (not chicken) where the ones to conceive the egg and because of the law of evolution that egg mutated/evolved into another creature much as that what we see now as chicken.. Thus nulling the idea of chicken comes first than egg and egg comes first than chicken... I hope you enjoyed reading this..

Chicken or egg. hmmm let's see. Ok if i'm a pious relegious man i would say the chicken. If i'm a rationalist i'd say the egg. Since for the moment i seem to be niether i'd leave it mass opinion.

I think the hen came first, because an egg cannot be there without a hen.

T.S. Eliot lost me when he came up with that batty remark about being old and wearing his trousers rolled. I am more of an ee cummings kind of person.

Well it depends upon you actually. If you believe in creation then its chicken which came first. If you believe (which I believe in) in creation then I will ask you a question, which came first Adam or a baby child? the answer is Adam. Adam was made from mud, Eve from Adam's bone and mud, and eve gave birth to a child. Similarly, the chicken was first from mud then started giving eggs(where babies develop). But if you believe in evolution, its can be anything, chicken may be first from another organism or it could be that other organism produced an egg and from it came a chicken. But if your talking about time period then the answer is egg, as long before chicken came into existence on earth, dinosaurs used to lay eggs.

Just a wild guess...the chicken through some evolution and the egg followed! Or is it the other way round? Now you managed to confuse me!! Thank you, Ms Mimpi!!

To ancient philosophers, the question about the first chicken or egg also evoked the questions of how life and the universe in general began.it can be said that "the chicken" came first—in the structure of the question, simply because the words "the chicken" are said before the words "the egg" when the question is asked.

I have read through the first responses mimpi and many questions come to mind. The most prominent question of all being - What the heck is up with all this serious crap?? It's human nature to once again overthink everything. Chicken or the egg, which came first? The answer is simple and all that needs to be done is to look for validators beyond the question itself. Determine if it was KFC OR scrambled eggs that first graced worldwide menu's and you will have your answer.....

Hello dear mimpi. It is a question hard to answer. I think that they are either way.

Wow, what a brain buster this turned out to be. All the different thoughts on the subject. I guess I have to agree with whoever said it depends on whether you believe in creation or evolution. It still kind of makes some kind of sense to me, and that's probably not saying much, that the chicken would have to come first, either way you look at it. Because, if the chicken DID evolve from something other animal, then, it really wasn't a chicken before. Until it was completely a chicken, the question can not even be raised. And, even if whatever the chicken evolved from came from an egg, the egg still had to have been laid by something so.......yes, definitely, most positively, the chicken came first. Are you totally confused now, mimpi?*L*

Hi Mimpi.....A chicken can lay eggs and get away with it.But an egg cannot hatch if there is no chicken around.......