Great Chain of Being

[[File:Great Chain of Being 2.png|right|thumb|165px|Know your place!]]
{{Christianity}}
The '''Great Chain of Being''' was an idea put forth by [[Augustine of Hippo]] as a hierarchy of all [[matter]] and [[life]]; one can see it as a very [[folk science|rudimentary form]] of [[taxonomy]] and [[matter]] classification.<ref group=note>For comparison: {{wpa|Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge}}</ref> It is an example of {{wpl|orthogenesis||.}} Historian A.O. Lovejoy traced the origins of the idea back to the ancient Greek philosophers. 

Three principles shaped the Great Chain:<ref>William F. Bynum. [http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1975HisSc..13....1B&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf The Great Chain of Being After Forty Years: An Appraisal.] ''Hist. Sci.'', vol. 13, 1975</ref> 

* The principle of '''plenitude''', traceable to [[Plato]], posits that the universe contains all possible forms of existence.
* The principle of '''continuity''', traceable to [[Aristotle]], holds that existence forms a continuous line.
* The principle of '''gradation''', also traceable to Aristotle, states that this continuous line constitutes a ranking of the "[[nature|natural]] order" from lowest (or simplest) to highest (or most complex).

Early [[protoscience| protoscientific]] and [[pseudoscience| pseudoscientific]] conceptions of [[evolution]]ary theory drew on the notion of the Great Chain. Notably, it appeared in works on [[scientific racism]] of the 18th-19th centuries.<ref>Jonathan Marks. [http://personal.uncc.edu/jmarks/pubs/Enc%20race%20GCOB.pdf The Great Chain of Being], in ''Encyclopedia of Racism''</ref> [[Jean-Baptiste Lamarck]] (1744-1829) proposed a modified version of the Great Chain in which categories were not fixed but where [[organism]]s could progress to higher forms through evolutionary development.<ref>[http://replicatedtypo.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/a-history-of-evolution-pt/ A History of Evolution Pt. 1: Ancient Greece to Lamarck], Replicated Typo</ref>

==The Chain==
#
[[Goat]]
 [[God]]
#[[Angels]] (further subdivided by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite<ref>{{wpa|Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite}}</ref>)
#[[Humans]] (further subdivided by racists)
#Lions and elephants
#Wild [[mammal]]s
#"Useful" domestic mammals
#Other "tame" domestic animals
#Eagles
#[[Bird]]s of prey
#Carrion birds
#Worm eating birds
#Seed eating birds
#Whales
#[[Shark]]s
#[[Fish]]
#[[Reptile]]s
#[[Amphibian]]s
#[[Insect]]s
#Sessile creatures
#[[Plant]]s (also subdivided, with trees on top)
#Gemstones (also subdivided, with diamonds on top)
#Metals (also subdivided, with [[gold]] on top)
#Minerals (also subdivided, with marble at the top)
#"Minute particles"

==Bibliography==
*''The Accidental Species: Misunderstandings of Human Evolution'' (2013) Henry Gee [[Special:Booksources/9780226271200|ISBN 9780226271200]]

==See also==

*[[Baraminology]]
*[[Cladistics]]
*[[Evolution]]
*[[How come there are still monkeys?]]
*[[Hinduism]] (their concept of [[reincarnation]] has some [[Coincidence|coincidental]] similarities)
*[[Linnaean taxonomy]]
*[[Periodic Table]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Christianity]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience]]

Categories: Christianity, Pseudoscience