The idea of Chain of Being in the fourth book of

Gullivers Travels

The Great Chain of Being is a concept put into discussion by Plato and Aristotle, and
developted by Leibniz in the 17th century. It underlines the fact that our world is not governed
by chaos, but by harmony and order, which are the main principles of the universe. The root
of this chain of being is a hierarchical order, which divides the organic and inorganic worlds,
putting man in the middle of it.
The position of man in the chain of being has always been a problem for philosophers
and not only, because man is placed beneath other ethereal beings like angels (they can also
be divided into other species of angels, such as archangels, seraphim, and cherubim), and
above other creatures and things, like animals and plants. But man is half mortal flesh, like
those below him, and half spirit, like the angels. The spirit brings him closer to God, to
divinity, whereas the material part of his existence estranges him from his Creator: It is
possible to descend by almost insensible degrees from the most perfect creature to the most
formless matter (Lovejoy, p. 230). But mans place in the chain is limited, because he can
either fall, or rise, and that is what makes him a special creature. By achieving virtue, he
reaches the highest level of the human being. He does not transcend from a state to another,
but he evolves spiritually: Man never is, but always to be blest: / The soul, uneasy and
confined from home, / Rests and expatiates in a life to come (Pope, p. 2245, v: 96, 97, 98). It
can be said that man is indeed a dichotomous creature:
A being darkly wise, and rudely great
With too much knowledge for the skeptic side
With too much weakness for the Stoics pride
In doubt to deem himself a god, or beast
Created half to rise, and half to fall
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all.
(Pope, p. 2250, v: 4, 5, 6, 8, 15, 16)
This concept has been used by Jonathan Swift in his novel, Gullivers Travels, to mock
the English society and to underline the nothingness of the human being. In the fourth
book, Gulliver finds himself on an island which is inhabited by a species of horses, the
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Houyhnhnms, who are brightly intelligent and rational. They seem to be the ideal
society, in Gullivers opinion he is very impressed that they respect each other, have a
clean and simple life, and they do not know the concept of lying or other human vices:
[]that I must needs be mistaken, or that I said the thing which was not, for they
have no word in their language to express lying or falsehood. [] for their language
does not abound in variety of words, because their wants and passions are fewer than
among us (Swift, book IV, chapter IV). The only bad thing of their society is the
existence of the Yahoos, the human kind which is described in this chapter as purely
savage, beastlike. They are portrayed as servants of the Houyhnhnms, who appear to be
the most unteachable of all animals. Their physical appearance matches the primitive
state of their nature, and their behavior is much more like of wild animals- they eat
roots, rats, they do not speak, they are violent and dirty, insolent, abject and cruel, for
they are cunning, malicious, treacherous, and revengeful. On the other hand, the horses
are the embodiment of all virtues, and their maxim is to cultivate reason and to be
governed by it. Two principles of major importance for them are friendship and
benevolence. They preach the fact that it is in their nature to love the whole species, but
to be aware of the most important difference between them and the other species- the
reason, which places them to the highest degree of virtue.
Gulliver becomes so attached of their lifestyle and way of acting and thinking,
that, after his return to the humans, he cannot help, but think that they are all like the
Yahoo, some sort of odious animal, for which I had so utter a hatred and contempt.
In this book, it seems that Swift has changed the place of man in the chain of
being, with the Houyhnhnms, who are the perfection of nature, orderly and rational. But
at a closer inspection, we can notice that neither the Houyhnhnms, nor the Yahoos have
any features of human kind. The horses are emotionless, they lack the concept of good
and evil, which means they do not have free- will, they do not have the option to
choose, as humans have. And that is what makes them so special- they are a mixture of
good and bad, of vice and virtue, they are free to take decisions, to make mistakes.
Moreover, man will always be searching for perfection; he will always be in a
continuous development, asking questions, looking for answers, wanting to know more
about himself in relation with the Universe and God: Know then thyself, presume not
God to scan/ The proper study of mankind is Man (Pope, p. 2250, v: 1, 2).

To sum al up, it can be said that mans place in the chain is controversial, as
Swift had depicted in his novel, but what can be certain is that man is indeed the glory,
jest, and riddle of the world (Pope, p 2250, v: 17).