Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Rather than reasoning tissue by tissue, place representative numeric values for each tissue's Young's modulus on one order-of-magnitude ladder and read the ranking straight off that ladder.
Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
Typical reported ranges used in biomechanics are approximately: Bone: $E \approx 10{,}000$-$20{,}000$ MPa (gigapascal range). Cartilage: $E \approx 1$-$15$ MPa. Liver tissue: $E \approx 0.0005$-$0.002$ MPa (a few kPa, a dense but soft parenchymal organ). Lung tissue: $E \approx 0.0001$-$0.0005$ MPa (well under 1 kPa, since it is mostly air held up by a sparse elastin-collagen scaffold).
Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
Placing these four ranges on a single numeric scale, bone's values are three to four orders of magnitude above cartilage, cartilage is itself three to four orders of magnitude above liver, and liver sits above lung since lung's mostly air-filled structure makes it the most compliant of the four.
Reading the ladder from the largest value down: bone first, then cartilage, then liver, then lung. This matches option (A), Bone $>$ Cartilage $>$ Liver $>$ Lung.
Any option that places lung above liver, or lung above cartilage, contradicts this numeric ladder, so options (B), (C), and (D) are ruled out directly by the magnitude comparison.
Step 4: Final Answer:
Bone $>$ Cartilage $>$ Liver $>$ Lung is the correct decreasing order of stiffness. \[ \boxed{\text{Bone} > \text{Cartilage} > \text{Liver} > \text{Lung}} \]