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Some people use the argument 'it's natural' (or unnatural) to justify or excuse this or that. But is something automatically good and desirable just because it is considered natural? For instance, some people justify adultery by saying polygamy is natural, especially in men.
Which brings up another question: is everything nature, even what we call culture? Where to draw the line? Does a chimp behave unnaturally if he uses a stick to catch ants?
I myself don't even like many aspects of nature (the whole concept of the food chain, of living beings killing and eating other living beings, it seems rather gross and primitive to me), so why would I look to nature to find out if my attitudes and deeds are OK or not? Should we even be proud to be unnatural?
Sometimes I also find people to be inconsistent, with some things they resort to nature as an argument, while with other things they say, well, I am a human and not an animal. In English there is that funny idiom 'You can't have your cake and eat it, too,' which fits quite well here I guess.
Some people use the argument 'it's natural' (or unnatural) to justify or excuse this or that. But is something automatically good and desirable just because it is considered natural?
Once again a good question with the same old reply, "Everything is relative". If cheating on your spouse is the norm in your culture then I guess it's natural. What other animal on the planet prays? Is praying natural?
I like the coments used in the selling of food, "All Natural", well if it isn't all natural where did the un-natural stuff come from, Mars? Shoot, radiation is natural.
Some people use the argument 'it's natural' (or unnatural) to justify or excuse this or that.
My response would depend on what the "this or that" is. Some aspects of natural human behaviors are justified simply because they are apart of our humanity and because they don't adversely affect our society we should accept them. If those actions are adverse to our society, we should reject them.
You're just a higher form of animal. I suppose some might take me to task for the "higher form" comment, but that's what I believe. How about that?
You may have the urge to cheat on your wife with that hot women at the gym, but you also have the cognitive ability to ask yourself certain questions and weigh the consequences: Will if hurt her (your wife); what about our marriage and the kids; shouldn't I think of someone other than myself; exactly how much is this gonna cost me; maybe thinking with only one body part is a bad idea.
That doesn't mean the natural urges aren't there and aren't very real, but you don't have to act on them.
You're just a higher form of animal. I suppose some might take me to task for the "higher form" comment, but that's what I believe. How about that?
You may have the urge to cheat on your wife with that hot women at the gym, but you also have the cognitive ability to ask yourself certain questions and weigh the consequences: Will if hurt her (your wife); what about our marriage and the kids; shouldn't I think of someone other than myself; exactly how much is this gonna cost me; maybe thinking with only one body part is a bad idea.
That doesn't mean the natural urges aren't there and aren't very real, but you don't have to act on them.
Empathy as a means to keep nature at bay?
Another example might be food: some eat animals arguing it is only natural to do so, while some vegetarians don't care if eating animals is natural or not.
Another example: protecting species. No animal cares if another species dies out, but humans do care, we invest a lot of money to keep endangered species from disappearing. So while it might not be natural, it is a good thing to try and save them imo. Maybe even loving any member of another species is unnatural.
(I am not planning on cheating on my wife, by the way, it was just an example. I am not even married )
The problem with the word "natural" is that it has so many uses that it's easy to create confusion when used arbitrarily in posts. Just look at this online dictionary, 31 different uses for it as an adj. and 7 as a noun.
Most often we use it to mean something that is formed by and/or exists in nature. But some posters also like to use it to give support to their personal moral beliefs.
The word "natural" has many connotations, so it's impossible to address it from one or a small handful of perspectives.
"Natural food" has a connotation that is understood by those who take the time to learn about it, while it's a term used by corporations to confuse and delude those who are interested in "eating natural" and don't know what is meant by the term, and to still others it is totally meaningless.
Living in accordance with nature, to me, is not a dualistic notion wherein everything created by humans is somehow separate from "nature" as an idealized fictitious place where Bambi roams and flowers sing. Living naturally can mean "doing as little damage as possible to the source of our sustenance." The basis for determining what is more or less harmful can be best learned by having a good understanding of evolution and ecology.
Enormous amounts of time, far beyond recorded human history, were required to wire us genetically and culturally so that we could live as an integral part of a complex codependent living system of organisms and inorganic factors, everything constantly affecting everything else. When we suddenly introduce large changes to the way we eat, use the land, usurp resources and alter habitat, we're going to pay a high price. The complex adaptive system that we know as our biosphere is incapable of adapting to the pace at which we are introducing changes. We've seen countless examples of human-caused disasters such as the Dust Bowl and the flooding of Hurricane Katrina --- natural disasters that were rooted in human-created changes to the environment.
Nature, for me, is something not to be ****ed with. We do so at our own peril.
As for people saying crap like "homosexuality isn't natural" --- just move on. They obviously don't know anything about nature, they only know what their Bible tells them.
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