Even if you have not been exposed formally to the “scala naturae” (loosely translated, “the great chain of being”), you have been deeply influenced by it. Rooted in Greek philosophy and assimilated into medieval theology by Islamic, Christian and even some Judaic scholars, the concept puts god at the top of a descending chain of beings whose place is determined by their relative degree of god-like attributes. Basically, god > angels > humans > animals > plants > minerals. Each category is further divided into “greater” and “lesser” beings, like lions vs. sea urchins in the animal world, or diamonds vs. sand grains in the mineral. However, each member of each division below god also contains within some god-like properties (fewer as you move down the chain) in addition to all the lesser properties of those entities linked below it.
Humans, sitting as they do halfway down the chain between total spirit and total dirt, are the messiest beings. Our particular link can be subdivided by both status (king to pauper) and by personal degree of god-likeness, i.e., a life containing more of what Aquinas called the “higher manifolds” (intelligence, piety) than of the “lower manifolds” (mostly, but not entirely, any non-procreative or non-binary sex stuff, particularly outside of traditional marriage).
It is impossible to overestimate the impact of the scala naturae philosophy on human history and thought, especially Western civilization. In recent history, however, science has emerged as a bête noire of this old philosophical notion, picking it apart by revealing physical world truths that contradict its rigid hierarchies, hallucinatory observations and imperious judgements. But the scala naturae is not retreating quietly. Indeed, it continues to animate so much of the strife and disagreement we are experiencing in our world today.
I thought about this hoary construct recently while trying to figure out the true impetus for the ferocious anti-transgender efforts of this current administration. According to the president: “Everything is transgender, everybody transgender, that is all you hear about.” I must admit, I haven’t noticed this to be true outside of the Oval Office, but I also don’t watch the propaganda/outrage channels that give this silly statement oxygen. The non-fundamentalist pundit class generally agrees that this administration’s anti-trans effort is a cynical ploy to fire up its base voters (and distract them from the many other legitimately awful things going on), but why does the base get so riled? Maybe it is their existential reaction against the further dissolution of the false security of the scala naturae worldview, a result of the scientific progress in understanding the natural basis for the huge variability in human gender identity and sexual expression.
A similar eruption occurred in 1993, when NIH scientist Dean Hamer and his colleagues published a paper in the journal Science entitled “A linkage between DNA markers on the X chromosome and male sexual orientation.” Theirs was the first study using the newly emerged biology tools to suggest a physical, genetic contribution to sexual identity. The response to what the media dubbed (incorrectly) the Gay Gene was astounding in its hostility, exceeding even the outraged reactions to the publication of Kinsey’s studies of male and female human sexual behavior a few decades earlier. Most of the attacks against the publication focused not on the science itself (which was pretty straightforward and appropriately tentative), but on the notion that homosexuality could be something “natural,” rather than a choice of sinful (i.e., lower manifold) behavior. In other words, the paper by Hamer et al. was considered a dangerous assault on long-held, fundamental beliefs about the world’s chain of being.
There have been multiple additional science publications that provide a more complete picture of the complex contributions of genes, environment, etc., to highly variable biological behaviors like sexual identity and gender expression. Together, they paint a picture of reality to be less of a direct chain than a massively branched and highly knotted chain. In other words, science is slowly breaking the blinkered links of the old linear “scala naturae” in favor of something more open, real, and true. But that progress is — sadly — not yet sufficient to shut down the kind of dishonest and immoral attacks we continue to see today against LGBTQ+ people in general, and the transgendered in particular.
Fintan Steele is an ex-Benedictine monk and priest with a Ph.D. in biology/genetics. He spent most of his life in science communications, including scientific publishing and, most recently, for biopharma and academic centers. He and his husband live in Boulder County. Email: fsteele1@me.com.
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