The "Great Chain of Being" and its Hierarchy
The “Great Chain of Being,” designed by Plato, is a hierarchy showing the interconnection between living and non-living things with regard to intellect or knowledge (Lima). The hierarchical structure indicates that God is at the helm of the order and has knowledge that is superior to that of angels, humans, beasts, plants, and other inanimate objects such as rocks.
Assumptions about Social Status and Intelligence
The paradigm colors my thinking in numerous ways. First, the hierarchical structure has made me assume that social status and the level of intelligence run concurrently. The nobles are placed in a higher order than the normal beings due to the power that they possess and their social influence. The second assumption that I make about life that is in line with the paradigm is that humans have power and control over beasts, plants, and inanimate objects as depicted by the “Great Chain of Being.”
Rethinking Assumptions
The level of knowledge that an individual possesses is highly dependent on numerous factors among them being experience and education (Kiełtyka 313). Therefore, I would rethink the assumptions of the link between social status and the level of intelligence. The fear and respect given to nobles are the two aspects that place the nobles above ordinary men.
The Great Chain's Interference with Human Understanding
The “Great Chain of Being” interferes with human understanding due to its failure to provide a rationale for human fear over animals. For instance, poisonous animals and insects such as snakes and some types of spider are feared by humans regardless of their position on the “Great Chain of Being.” The poison that some species emit might kill humankind in less than an hour. However, the chain still places humanity above animals. In summary, the great chain represents a backward thinking that does not apply to the present times.
Works Cited
Kiełtyka, Robert. "The theory of the Great Chain of Being (GCB) revisited: The case of GCB-level-conditioned animal terms." SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics 12, no. 3 (2015): 313-330.
Lima, Manuel. "A Visual History of Human Knowledge." Ted.Com, 2015, https://www.ted.com/talks/manuel_lima_a_visual_history_of_human_knowledge.
