This paper challenges the common assumption that modernity has entirely rejected the idea of a scala naturae, or Great Chain of Being. Instead, I argue that this hierarchical concept, particularly in its Aristotelian form, remains deeply embedded in two major strands of modern thought: Darwinian evolution and phenomenology/philosophical anthropology. While a dominant interpretation of Darwinism historicizes the scala naturae, twentieth-century European thinkers retrieve aspects of the ancient Greek framework to affirm both evolution and human distinctiveness.
Despite concerns that such a hierarchy among species reinforces anthropocentrism, I propose that the scala naturae can instead foster an ethical vision grounded in continuity and kinship among living beings. Rejecting hierarchy altogether risks moral arbitrariness and a functional Cartesianism that ends up alienating humanity from nature. By reconsidering the scala naturae, we may find a constructive framework for mediating the longstanding tension between human exceptionalism and ecological belonging.