Most people have heard the age old paradox of the chicken and the egg. Which came first? Every time you attempt to answer the question the opposite answer suddenly appears to be true. If you decide it is the egg then the obvious question follows, where did the egg come from? If you decide it is the chicken then you are forced to ignore that chickens hatch from eggs. In an article written for Spirit Magazine, Francine Prose points out that there is a logical and scientific answer to this paradox. However, the entertaining aspect of this question is not the answer but rather the logic of our personal reflection. Before reading this essay I realized there had to be a logical answer, but I now realize that sometimes the way you formulate and process
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“Unlike questions that are designed to have no logical solution and subvert the reasoning mind, the chicken-egg dilemma usefully describes any number of very real situations — circumstances in which it’s hard or impossible to decide what came first, what is cause, and what is effect” (pg. 118). Despite the existence of an answer to these type of questions, Prose points out “What difference does knowing make?” (pg. 119). Prose is simply introducing an abstract concept through the use of a popular philosophical question. She is demonstrating that being able to memorize the answers to questions will only get you so far in life. The chicken-egg question has an answer, but as Prose concludes, “thinking about the question, especially for a child, is the low-tech, homey version of going outside on a clear night and contemplating the immensity of the starry sky” (pg. 119). Therefore, sometimes it is better to knew how to think logically and formulate opinions rather than memorize the answers since some things in life do not have a simple comprehensible …show more content…
I think it is important to occasionally reflect upon how we developed a conclusion. So which came first? Scientifically speaking it must have been the chicken or a creature similar to the chicken since the development of an egg shell requires a protein found in the ovaries of chickens. What do you accomplish from knowing the answer? Nothing; the true value of the question is grounded in the development of the answer rather than the answer itself. “The endurance of that question, and of our fascination with it, is about a kind of experience we human beings seem to want: an experience of the insoluble, of the mysterious and confounding” (pg. 119). A phaneron is a philosophical point of view derived from individual thoughts and experiences. Since each person’s phaneron is different one of the most valuable things we as human being possess is an individualistic way of processing and analyze questions. Not all questions can be answered, but all questions can be thought about, processed, or
“Unlike questions that are designed to have no logical solution and subvert the reasoning mind, the chicken-egg dilemma usefully describes any number of very real situations — circumstances in which it’s hard or impossible to decide what came first, what is cause, and what is effect” (pg. 118). Despite the existence of an answer to these type of questions, Prose points out “What difference does knowing make?” (pg. 119). Prose is simply introducing an abstract concept through the use of a popular philosophical question. She is demonstrating that being able to memorize the answers to questions will only get you so far in life. The chicken-egg question has an answer, but as Prose concludes, “thinking about the question, especially for a child, is the low-tech, homey version of going outside on a clear night and contemplating the immensity of the starry sky” (pg. 119). Therefore, sometimes it is better to knew how to think logically and formulate opinions rather than memorize the answers since some things in life do not have a simple comprehensible …show more content…
I think it is important to occasionally reflect upon how we developed a conclusion. So which came first? Scientifically speaking it must have been the chicken or a creature similar to the chicken since the development of an egg shell requires a protein found in the ovaries of chickens. What do you accomplish from knowing the answer? Nothing; the true value of the question is grounded in the development of the answer rather than the answer itself. “The endurance of that question, and of our fascination with it, is about a kind of experience we human beings seem to want: an experience of the insoluble, of the mysterious and confounding” (pg. 119). A phaneron is a philosophical point of view derived from individual thoughts and experiences. Since each person’s phaneron is different one of the most valuable things we as human being possess is an individualistic way of processing and analyze questions. Not all questions can be answered, but all questions can be thought about, processed, or