noun
1. Philosophy. The scala naturae (Latin, literally: "ladder or stair-way of nature"), is a classical Christian and Western medieval concept detailing a strict, hierarchical structure of all matter and life, believed to have been decreed by God.
EX. Today's comic is, to my pleasant surprise, based on lyrics from Kanye West's No Church in the Wilds feat. Jay-Z and Frank Ocean. The lyrics appear to be a beautiful perversion of The Great Chain of Being, which is better described as a pyramid as it attempts to prescribe a hierarchy to the universe with the lowest animals on the bottom, followed by more complex animals, with animals like lions higher up, followed by humans, then angels, then God at the top. It actually reminds me of a question I've heard posed in several different ways, but also eloquently by Terry Pratchett's DEATH in The Hogather (go read this book or watch the film):
"Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape."
My question, when it comes to philosophy, is would you rather be ashamed of humanity or be proud of it? Do you supress it or progress it? Would you rather be the falling angel or the rising ape?
Also, "Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaccee!"
