An example of an historical alternative conception,
"This ladder of nature or scala naturae is a common image through the Middle Ages and into Modernity.
…[For Aquinas] A divided hierarchy runs from rocks to humans in the visible creation and from God to human souls in the invisible creation…Within the invisible creation the hierarchy descends from ideas and causes in the mind of God…through the angels, stars, and planets, to human souls. The heavens were kicked out of the 'visible' creation of elements and corporeality. Though made of aether, the most rarified fifth element of Aristotle, they do not follow the rules of earthly matter. … The planets, meanwhile, undoubtedly have intelligence…Within the visible creation, the hierarchy ascends from minerals through the plants and brute animals, to humans."
p.132
Lucas John Mix (2018) Life Concepts from Aristotle to Darwin. On vegetable souls. Cham, Switzerland: plagrave macmillan.
Read about the notion of the aether
