Every advance in civilization has been denounced as unnatural while it was recent.
(Bertrand Russell, “An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish” (1943) in The Portable Atheist, p. 199)
I often laugh when I hear unnatural used synonymously for bad. What does natural even mean? That it comes about without our interference? But aren’t we part of nature? If we are, aren’t silicon and satellites just as natural as saliva and snapdragons?
Or if we’re not included in nature, then what business can we label domesticated vegetables, fruits, and animals as natural?
I also laugh when natural is used synonymously for good. Natural as in disease, disasters, dirt, death, and diarrhea?
Just because something is considered natural doesn’t mean it’s good, and just because it’s considered unnatural doesn’t mean it’s bad.
It used to be the counterculture that was confused about this, but now it has seeped into consumer culture. Thus almost every bag of food now says “all natural ingredients,” which means nothing.
“Natural” (and “organic”) have of course been co-opted as marketing tools by the corporate world (which doesn’t mean there’s no value in the concept, just that you have to get into the details).
However, there is another usage of natural, one which is closer to this blog’s usual theme, and possibly also to what Russell was talking about: “natural law”, as understood in the Christian tradition. I’ve got an ongoing low-level debate with a conservative Christian blogger who frequently says she wants to see human rights formally grounded in “natural law”. Of course, no one can show that this natural law exists, and in practice it is whatever the Pope says it is.
I find the “natural” argument most frustrating in the homosexuality debate. The term is just so vague and flexible that it just stops the argument. Is toilet training “natural?” Is civilization itself “natural?” I wish I could just get a moratorium on the word.
My father used to say, “Who ever said nature was benign?” True enough — many horrible things are totally “natural.”
So, Eamon:
Your Christian conservative friend is clearly in favour of gay marriage, the Equal Rights Amendment, affirmative action, etc …
After all, if her natural law recognizes that all are equal in god’s eyes, then clearly society needs to address the inequeties that humankind creates, no?
I remember a horrible joke where the sheriff was covering up a murder case. He ordered the coroner to declare that the victim died of natural causes. “Natural causes? But he was shot!” “Yeah, that’s right. It’s natural to die when you’ve got an ounce of lead lodged in your heart.”
Colon drew himself up to attention again.
“Not natural, in my view, sah. Not in favor of unnatural things.”
Vetinari looked perplexed.
“You mean… you eat your meat raw and sleep in a tree?”