Position:Home>Philosophy> What is natural in this material world?

It always intrigues me that people find a dam built by beavers as being 'natural' but a dam built by man as being 'un-natural'!.

What's the difference (in the abstract) between a person building a house and a bird building a nest!?

Why is it that we call 'plastic' an unnatural substance, but beeswax is 'natural'!? They're both made out of naturally occurring materials!.

Is everyone so blinded by the belief that 'H!. Sapiens' is somehow fundamentally 'different' than all of the other creatures that have evolved on this planet that whatever we do is 'unnatural' in some way!?

Sure, we communicate better, we have more sophisticated tools, in some ways we may be more able to relate more complex items to each other and a few other mental gymnastics!. But how does that make us 'different' or 'unnatural'!?

We all live under the same star, drink the same water, have our place in the food chain, and when we die we get re-cycled into something else!.

Some of the water molecules you flushed down the toilet a few months ago may well be in the ice cubes in the scotch I'm drinking!.

Everything is part of everything else and it's all part of the same Universe!.

DougWww@QuestionHome@Com

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Everything has to come from nature in some regards, whether it be concrete, plastic, glass, or electricity!. They might not be found there, but the materials needed can't come from any place else!. Even things that are created artificially in laboratories need things like carbon or other elements!. Even if we manipulated elements right down to the nucleus and electrons, they would still be taken from other existing elements, and thus from nature!.

Basically, although many of us have abandoned nature in the sense of urban living and lack of exploration outdoors, we can't live without it, and never will!.

I'm no scientist and thus I can't give you an incredibly detailed description of my claims, nor can I even claim that they are 100% correct, but it stands to reason that you can't create something that isn't made up from things that were found in our environment, even if you have to go to the molecular level!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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I concur with Doug, but I'll make it simpler:

Man is of nature; man's mind is of nature; therefore anything made by man is "natural!."

That which is "not natural" must have been created by something not of nature, and I can't think of any creature that is not of nature!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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natural is any living thing!.!.!.!.Things made from the living things are materialistic!.!.Environments unchanged by living things are natural!.!.!.!. Environments changed by living things are materialistic!.!.!.!.!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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nature!.!.!.the outdoors, the mountains, the ocean, the sunset!.!.!.everything that existed before humans came to beWww@QuestionHome@Com

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materials!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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