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Dictionary of the History of Ideas

Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas
  
  
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1. Two Objections. There seems to have been only
two dissident voices in this ideal climate, namely, those
of Dr. Johnson and Voltaire. Samuel Johnson (in 1757)
applied Zeno's argument to the Chain of Being.

The Scale of Existence from Infinity to Nothing cannot
possibly have Being. The highest Being not infinite must
be... at an infinite Distance below Infinity... and in
this Distance, between finite and infinite, there will be
Room for ever for an infinite series of indefinable Existence.
Between the lowest positive existence and Nothing,... is
another chasm infinitely deep; where there is room again
for endless Orders of subordinate Nature.... Nor is this
all. In the Scale... there are infinite Vacuities. At whatever
Distance we suppose the next Order of Being to be above
Man, there is room for an intermediate Order of Beings
between them; and if for one Order, then for infinite Orders;
since every Thing that admits of more or less, and conse-
quently all the Parts of that which admits them, may be
infinitely divided...

(A Review of a Free Inquiry into the
Nature and Origin of Evil
).

Johnson's argument, as we see, strikes directly at the
foundation of the Chain of Being—the principle of
plenitude. Still, with a moment's reflection, we see that
it is not really pertinent: the Chain of Being is, so to
speak, the cosmological translation of Zeno's paradox,
and its fullness is predicated precisely upon the “fault”
Johnson finds with it, namely, that infinite divisibility
which affords the insertion between one order and
another of “endless orders.”

Voltaire, on the other hand, questions on the basis
of empirical observation whether it can be held that
there is a gradation of created beings (Dictionnaire
philosophique
[1764], s.v. “Chaîne des êtres créés”). It
is gratifying to the imagination, he says, to contemplate
that imperceptible passage from the inanimate to the
organic, from plants to zoophytes, to animals, to angels,
all in ascending grades of perfection up to God Him-
self. This hierarchy pleases the bons gens, who believe
they recognize in it the Pope, followed by the cardi-
nals, archbishops, and bishops, followed in turn by the
curates, vicars, and simple priests, deacons and sub-
deacons, lastly by friars and capuchins. But there is
an essential difference between the cosmological and
ecclesiastical hierarchies: whereas in the latter the
humblest member can be Pope, in the former not even
the most perfect of creatures can become God. And
with this apparently jesting observation Voltaire
catches an essential feature of the Chain of Being—its
immobility: if the principle of plenitude requires that
every grade be filled by an order of creatures, this
hierarchy must necessarily be static, for we cannot
admit a passing onto higher orders which would leave
holes in the universal fabric. And in any case between


330

even the most perfect of creatures and God an infinite
hiatus must remain (il y a l'infini entre Dieu et lui).

But Voltaire's objection regards, above all, the prin-
ciple of continuity, which is nowhere evidenced in
nature: let the proof of that be that there are extinct
species in both the animal and vegetable kingdoms.
It is probable that even among men there are extinct
species; and between apes and men there is clearly
a gap. As for spiritual substances, Christians believe
in them because faith teaches that these substances
exist; but what reason had Plato for believing so? And
finally how can there be in empty space a chain that
binds all? Here Voltaire catches another difficulty in
the idea of a continuum, namely, one owing something
to the philosophy of Newton, who had affirmed the
existence of a vacuum—something rejected by Leibniz
in favor of the plenitude hypothesis.

Of the two criticisms presented above, Johnson's in
its logical strictness misses the mark because he chal-
lenges the principle of plenitude precisely on the basis
of the idea that makes it possible, namely the infinite
divisibility of matter. Voltaire's is the more interesting
because it reflects the debates current in the biological
sciences of his day, and especially the discussions of
the notion of species, which, as we shall see, were to
be decisive in the development and eventual dissolu-
tion of the Chain of Being.