A series of small, regular changes or steps between two extremes; the act of arranging something in such a series.
From Latin 'gradatio', derived from 'gradus' (step). In Medieval philosophy it described the 'great chain of being'—the idea that all creation exists in a perfect graduated hierarchy.
The Great Chain of Being—that medieval idea of gradation from lowest to highest creatures—seems quaint now, but it shows how deeply humans need to understand things as existing on scales rather than as separate categories.
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