What is The Great Chain of Being ?
Among the most important of the continuities with the Classical period was the concept of the Great Chain of Being. Its major premise was that every existing thing in the universe had its "place" in a divinely planned hierarchical order, which was pictured as a chain vertically extended. ("Hierarchical" refers to an order based on a series of higher and lower, strictly ranked gradations.) It was believed that your actions determined your movement on the Great Chain. If you were good and acted honorably, you could move up a level on the Chain. If you were a bad person and did irrational things based on instinct (the act of murder, for example), then you could slide down the Chain. If you slid down the Chain, you would go to hell, not heaven.
An object's "place" depended on the relative proportion of "spirit" and "matter" it contained--the less "spirit" and the more "matter," the lower down it stood. At the bottom, for example, stood various types of inanimate objects, such as metals, stones, and the four elements (earth, water, air, fire). Higher up were various members of the vegetative class, like trees and flowers. Then came animals; then humans; and then angels.
Click here for a full representation of the Great Chain of Being
Among the most important of the continuities with the Classical period was the concept of the Great Chain of Being. Its major premise was that every existing thing in the universe had its "place" in a divinely planned hierarchical order, which was pictured as a chain vertically extended. ("Hierarchical" refers to an order based on a series of higher and lower, strictly ranked gradations.) It was believed that your actions determined your movement on the Great Chain. If you were good and acted honorably, you could move up a level on the Chain. If you were a bad person and did irrational things based on instinct (the act of murder, for example), then you could slide down the Chain. If you slid down the Chain, you would go to hell, not heaven.
An object's "place" depended on the relative proportion of "spirit" and "matter" it contained--the less "spirit" and the more "matter," the lower down it stood. At the bottom, for example, stood various types of inanimate objects, such as metals, stones, and the four elements (earth, water, air, fire). Higher up were various members of the vegetative class, like trees and flowers. Then came animals; then humans; and then angels.
- God
- Heaven & Angels
- Stars & Moon
- Nobles
- Humans (Man)
- Animals (Beast)
- Plant
- Flame
- Stone
Click here for a full representation of the Great Chain of Being