The Great Chain of Being: The Neo-Classical View of the World

Vast chain of being, which from God began, /Natures ethereal, human, angel, man, / Beast, bird, fish, insect! what no
eye can see, /No glass can reach! from infinite to thee, /From thee to nothing! (I !"#$!%&'
(f systems )ossible, if *tis confest /+hat ,isdom infinite must form the best, /,here all must full or not
coherent be, /-nd all that rises, rise in due degree. /+hen, in the scale of reas*ning life, *tis )lain /+here must be
somewhere, such a ran/ as man0 /-nd all the 1uestion (wrangle e*er so long' /Is only this, if God has )lac*d him
wrong23 (- 4o)e, An Essay on Man, I %"$56'
The chain of being in the philosophical tradition - The three principles (cf. A. O. o!e"o#$
& The principle of plenitude0 the fullness of the reali7ation of )ossibility into actuality
! The principle of continuity0 the insensibly minute gradation of different classes of being
" The principle of hierarchy0 the chain rises from the lowest to the highest forms of being, with God
transcending them all
Mans middle state
8now then thyself, )resume not God to scan. / +he )ro)er study of man/ind is man / 4lac*d on this isthmus
of a middle state, / - being dar/ly wise, and rudely great0 // 9haos of thought and )assion, all confus*d. / :till by
himself abus*d, or disabus*d. / 9reated half to rise, and half to fall. / Great lord of all things, yet a )rey to all. / :ole
;udge of truth, in endless error hurl*d0 / +he glory, ;est, and riddle of the world! (II &$&<'
The sin of pride
In )ride, in reasoning )ride our error lies (I &!"'
-s)iring to be gods, if angels fell, / -s)iring to be angels, men rebel0 / -nd who but wishes to in=ert the
laws / (f order, sins against th* >ternal 9ause (I &!#$&"6'
Submission
(in natural as well as moral res)ects, e=il is not to be
charged on ?ea=en0' $ In both, to reason right is to submit (I &@%'
Inner harmony
4assions, li/e elements, though born to fight, /Aet, miB*d and soften*d, in his wor/ unite

+hese miB*d with art, and to due bounds confin*d, / Ca/e and maintain the balance of the mind0
+he lights and shades, whose well accorded strife / Gi=es all the strength and colour of our life (II &&&$&!!'
Political harmony
+ill ;arring int*rests of themsel=es create / +h*according music of a well$miB*d state / :uch is the world*s
great harmony, that s)rings /From order, union, full consent of things (III !D"$!D5'
Harmony and the universal good
-ll nature is but art, un/nown to thee. /-ll chance, direction, which thou canst not see. /-ll discord, harmony,
not understood. /-ll )artial e=il, uni=ersal good0 /-nd, s)ite of )ride, in erring reason*s s)ite, /(ne truth is clear,
,hate=er is, is right (I !<D$!D%'
Harmony of form
8now then thy$ $self, )re$ $sume not God to scan.
+he )ro$ $)er stu$ $dy of Can$ $/ind is Can
EE EE EE EE EE EE EE EE EE EE
/ / / / /
The iambic pentametre (or the decasyllabic cou)let. also /nown as the heroic cou)let'0 a line of ten syllables
alternately unstressed and stressed. it reaches bac/ to the 1uantitati=e metre of Gree/ and Fatin
Language as the dress of thought (a fundamental )rinci)le of the neo$classical theory of style'0 the )rinci)le
of the corres)ondence (ad;ustment' between words and ideas G )lain style, cleansed of Hfanciful figuresH and other
ornaments, which would best eB)ress sound ;udgment