- “Is this product all-natural?”
- “It’s a shame that humans keep spoiling all the natural beauty.”
- “I only like the natural kind. Not the man-made stuff.”
- “If we could only learn to live more naturally.”
We are all familiar with phrases similar to these. They are everywhere we turn. In news articles and Hollywood movies; at the mall and on the hiking trail. Likening the human race to a tragic disease inflicted upon a poor, innocent planet. A plague of locusts stripping away and consuming every resource to their own future detriment. The seething, unwashed masses who are mindlessly ruining it for the rest of us!
And that can’t be natural!
Can it?
Art. Artifact. Artifice. Artificial.
Made by the hand of man as opposed to springing from the bosom of nature.
Is a forest “natural”? How about a mountain or an ocean? Is a beach on the shore of that ocean “natural”? What about a sea-shell washed up on that beach by the (presumably) natural waves?
We need to think about that last item. Hmm…
That shell is a construct. It was made by something else. Is it in fact… an artifact?
We would really have to say “no”. Although it was created by an animal to serve as it’s home, the shell is every bit as natural as it’s (former) occupant.
Let’s move farther up the brain chain, shall we? How about an eagle? Birds are certainly natural. What about the eagle’s nest? Oh oh. A sea-shell is one thing. It came into being as a part of a living creature. But a bird’s nest? Assembled using gathered materials. On purpose.
Nope. I’m afraid bird’s nests aren’t natural. Gotta draw the line somewhere.
Birds good. Bird’s nests bad.
Bees good. Beehives bad.
(Pre-Paleolithic) Man good. Buildings bad. (Just plain unnatural.)
Am I missing something here?