Did the kitchen come before the egg?

In other words, did our ideas of theory come before theory even existed?

For example, focus your lens on a writer in terms of theory. When dealing with a writer, theory will be a very different monster in comparison to the pot smoker pacifist or hard jawed feminist. The origin of the writer's theory will be dotted with examples from literature, media, and traits of popular culture. All three of these things are objects that produce positions on theory based on a writer's own subculture.

Now, to address my whole "did the kitchen come before the egg" idea? Why would a writer want to draw upon examples of theory from his own realm of knowledge and not some other form like an engineer or astronomer? Theory is the egg and those prevailing levels of knowledge is the kitchen; the writer is built just like this analogy.

Theory is an abstract term that can be applied to multiple objects in our culture or multiple sub-cultures in modern society. You may mumble the word "theory" at a dinner table and a musician will say one thing, a philosopher will say another, and heaven forbid, you offend the theologian. Basically if you're going to talk about theory, be prepared for an armada of random interpretations from different disciplines.

It is theory that allows the writer to create stories. It is literature and writing that validates the existence of theory. It gives the writer a basic form of knowledge to conduct any action.

All in all, theory is a subconscious road sign. Theory makes a chicken think like a chicken.