Abstract: Does Aristotle have a scala naturae in which humans are ranked higher than the other animals? Is it better to be human than to be something else? This chapter shows that Aristotle's sequence of functions of the soul is not ordered in terms of honour but in terms of distribution. Greater complexity is not a mark of superiority. The animals' lack of what Aristotle called eudaimonia does not mean that they are lacking in happiness or success in their own pursuits. Rather, simplicity is an ideal; psychological complexity is (for Aristotle) a mark of things that fall short of perfection, as is evident from his discussion of the complex motions of the planets. Texts discussed include Metaphysics A, De anima, Nicomachean Ethics X, De partibus animalium, De Caelo, De incessu animalium, and Aristotle's discussion of slaves and women in Politics.

Keywords: soul, slaves, women, planets, eudaimonia, happiness, complexity, simplicity, hierarchy, perfection,