The Hierarchy of Being
Nov 6th, 2009 by Micah Tillman | Start the Discussion |
I was explaining the Classical Hierarchy of Being to my classes today. We’re studying Augustine, you see, and you can’t understand Augustine if you don’t understand his view of the overall order of the universe.
This is how the universe looked to most classical Christian thinkers:
They wouldn’t have used the term “energy,” but what they meant by “prime matter” is what we would mean by “energy” today.
And here’s how the universe looks to most Christians today:
Actually, I’m just kidding. That’s exactly how most classical Christian thinkers saw the universe too. Not much has changed over the past 2,000 years.
On the other hand, here’s the way many other people — whose worldview is first and foremost policito-scientific — see the world nowadays:
Sorry, I had to turn it sideways to get it to fit. But hopefully you still get the point:
The Universe has been “democratized” — except that the State is still higher than everything except Numbers (since numbers are that which rule all, on the scientific worldview).
