Yes, the 'place of man' was an important Neo-Classical theme. I would review concept of "Great Chain of Being" as Pope alludes to this quite a bit in Essay. In this chain, harmony and order must be maintained and if one element is out of place, virtue becomes vice. He includes the belief that humans were PART of an ordered word, a world maintained by reason. Reason and virtue were inseparable to Pope. Pride, in particular could lead man away from his place of "right reason." So, man should not overreach by trying to over-reach Nature. Thus, copy nature as did the ancients, becasue "all nature is but art, unknown to thee" anyway and "Whatever is, is right." The Essay on Man supports a hierarchical view of the world, a view later attacked by the Romantic poets.
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