What was the first thing: an egg or a chicken? Dinosaur!

Logical paradoxes have always attracted philosophers.One of them is familiar to us. What came first: an egg or a chicken? On the one hand, this phrase long ago began to symbolize empty disputes and solutions that cannot be found.

On the other hand, over the solution to the problem thoughtphilosophers of all ages, and even modern scholars. I must say that the trick lies in the formulation itself. Initially, it did not sound like "egg or chicken", but as "egg or bird." This is fundamentally important because it makes it possible to generalize. We give examples.

What came first: an egg or a chicken? Opinion of the ancients

Aristotle and Plutarch came to the conclusion that theyappeared at the same time, arguing something like this. A chicken (or bird) is born from an egg, so it cannot be the first. The egg carries a chicken, so it cannot be the first either. Consequently, they appeared simultaneously.

What came first: an egg or a chicken (from the point of view of modern scientists)

Contemporaries are more cunning:they analyze the meaning of words. So, the egg, they say - is a whole series of mutations that led to the formation of this form. There is no doubt that the answer is only one: the first egg appeared, because not only birds were born from the eggs, but also dinosaurs, and

other animals that lived before them.

If we keep in mind only the chicken egg, the question will remain unanswered: scientists simply have no facts.

If, answering the question: "What first appeared:egg or chicken? ", - the word" chicken "is replaced by the word" bird ", then you have to argue differently. Of course, other types of birds existed before the chicken. Some of them were intermediate and had features that did not quite resemble a chicken. something similar to eggs. And only at a certain point in time they were called “chicken” or “egg.” Such lengthy reasoning never answers the question. This method of asking questions and answers uses fuzzy concepts This means that every term in The key to the phrase does not have a clear meaning. What refers to an egg? Whom are meant by the name of a chicken? Everyone can give their own words, broader or narrower, meaning. That is why the answer does not exist, more precisely, there may be several.

1. The egg, because egg-laying appeared much earlier than the form, called the "chicken", was formed.
2. Chicken, because she began to lay chicken eggs.

Other logical paradoxes

These paradoxes are great training for the mind. History knows a lot of them.

1. Everything that is written here is not true. If we accept that what is written has true meaning, then it will be false. But if we take for granted that the message is false, then the written will be true.
2. Limit yourself in everything, even in restriction. (Petronius).
3. If you put a cat in a dark box, put a hammer and an ampoule with poison in it, the cat will be alive and dead at the same time (Schrodinger).
4. If a heap is removed from a heap, when will it cease to be a heap?

Such paradoxes can be conceptual, definitional, probabilistic, mathematical, topological, etc.