Great chain of being

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The great chain of being or  scala naturæ is  a classical and  western medieval conception of the order of the universe, whose chief characteristic is  a strict hierarchical system.

It is  a conception of the world's structure that was accepted, and  unquestioned, by most educated men from the time of Lucretius until the Copernican and  Darwinian revolution and  the ultimate flowering of the Renaissance. The chain of being is  composed of a great number of hierarchal links, from the most basic and  foundational elements up through the very highest perfection, in other words, God, or  the Prime Mover.

God, and  beneath him the angels, both existing wholly in spirit form, sit at the top of the ladder. Earthly flesh is  fallible and  ever-changing: mutable. Spirit, however, is  unchanging and  permanent. This sense of permanence is  crucial to understanding this conception of reality. One does not abandon one's place in the chain; it  is not only unthinkable, but generally impossible. (One exception might be in the realm of alchemy, where alchemists attempted to transmute base elements, such as lead, into higher elements, either silver, or  more often, gold—the highest element.)

In the natural order, earth (rock) is  at the bottom of the chain; these elements possess only the attribute of existence. Moving on up the chain, each succeeding link contains the positive attributes of the previous link, and  adds (at least) one other. Rocks, as above, possess only existence; the next link up, plants, possess life and existence. Beasts add not only motion, but appetite as well.

Man is  a special instance in this conception. He is  both mortal flesh, as those below him, and  also spirit. In this dichotomy, the struggle between flesh and  spirit becomes a moral one. The way of the spirit is  higher, more  noble; it  brings one closer to God. The desires of the flesh drag one down. The Christian fall of Lucifer is  especially terrible, because that angel is  wholly spirit, who yet defies God, the ultimate perfection.

Contents 1 Diagram 2 Other subdivisions 3 References 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] Diagram

The purpose of the great chain of being was to assign a place for everything in the universe, classified into either:

• holy
• animal
• vegetable
• mineral

Example: If one were to examine only the earthly inhabitants, and  their place in the chain, this is  what would be found:

• god
• angels
• humans
• birds
• fish
• mammals
• plants
• rocks

The concept of "animal, vegetable, and  mineral" still survives and  is a feature of many Western philosophies and  cultures to this day, and  importantly made up the "three kingdoms" of Carolus Linnaeus's taxonomic system.

[edit] Other subdivisions

Each link in the chain might be further divided into its component parts. In medieval secular society, for example, the king is  at the top, followed by the aristocratic lords, and  then the peasants below them. Solidifying the king's position at the top of humanity's social order is  the doctrine of the divine right of kings. In the family, the father is  head of the household; below him, his wife; below her, their children. The children might be subdivided so that the males are  one link above the females.

Modern western culture maintains some of these divisions. Just as Milton's Paradise Lost ranked the angels (c.f. Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite's ranking of angels), so Christian culture conceives of angels in orders of archangels, seraphim, and  cherubim, among others. The lion is  still king of light.

Amongst animals, subdivisions are  equally apparent. At the top of the animals are  wild beasts, who were seen as superior as they defied training and  domestication. Below them are  domestic animals, further sub-divided so that useful animals (such as dogs and  horses) are  higher than docile creature such as sheep. Birds are  also sub-divided, with eagles above pigeons, for example. Fish come below birds, and  are sub-divided between actual fish and  other sea creatures which are  abhorred in the Bible. Below them come insects, with useful insects such spiders and  bees, and  attractive creatures such as ladybirds and  dragonflies at the top, and  unpleasant insects such as flies and  beetles at the bottom. At the very bottom of the animal sector are  snakes, which are  relegated to this position as punishment for the serpent's actions in the Garden of Eden.

Below animals comes the division for plants, which is  further sub-divided. Trees are  at the top, with useful trees such as oaks at the top, and  the traditionally demonic yew tree at the bottom. Food-producing plants such as cereals and  vegetables, further sub-divided.

At the very bottom of the chain are  minerals. At the top of this section are  metals (further sub-divided, with gold at the top), rocks (with granite and  marble at the top), soil (sub-divided between nutrient-rich soil and  low-quality types), sand, grit, dust, and  dirt. A reference to the Great Chain of Being that survives in today's English language is  the insult that one is  "lower than dirt," which refers to dirt's place at the bottom of the Chain.

The central concept of the chain of being is  that everything imaginable fits into it  somewhere, giving order and  meaning to the universe.

[edit] References

• Arthur Lovejoy: The Great Chain of Being: A Study of the History of an  Idea, (1936) ISBN 0-674-36153-9
• E. M. W. Tillyard: The Elizabethan World Picture (1942)

[edit] See also

• History of biology
• Natural history

[edit] External links

• Dictionary of the History of Ideas – Chain of Being
• The Great Chain of Being reflected in the work of Descartes, Spinoza & Leibniz Peter Suber, Earlham College, Indiana