Aristotle's ladder of nature, and the Great Chain of Being, were concepts suggesting __________.
a) life evolved on other worlds and was later transported to Earth down a celestial ladder
b) the accurate evolutionary view that all species are related, with each providing an evolutionary link (i.e. step in the ladder) to its immediate ancestor
c) the mystical teleological view that all species were created in a fixed order, from least to most perfect
d) life is a painful and purposeless experience of endless steps, but death brings release from the ladder of life

The teleological argument states that God created all living things, this belief is also known as intelligent design or creationism. This belief might be considered to be opposed to the mechanism of natural selection proposed by Darwin to understand how species evolve, which can explain the complexity of living things. The creationism was firstly proposed by Socrates in ancient Greece. Subsequently, Plato (who was a student of Socrates) and Aristotle (who was a student of Plato) substantially enhanced the arguments of the intelligent design.