Appeal to Nature Fallacy

An icon of a white leaf inside a black square. Definition:

Making the argument that because something is “natural” it is therefore valid, justified, inevitable, good, or ideal.

The Very Special Remedies salesman rolled into town on his bandwagon offering various natural remedies, such as very special plain water. He said that it was only natural that people should be wary of “artificial” medicines such as antibiotics.

Redressing the Fallacy

If you are presented with an appeal to nature:

• invite your interlocutor to specify the necessary and sufficient conditions for something to be “natural”
• use their definition to come up with counter-examples
• think of an example where something natural is bad for us: hemlock, arsenic, angel of death (amanita ocreata), to name a few. It might also help to think of things that are not natural but clearly good for us: mosquito nets, winter boots, sunscreen, etc.

It is quite difficult to come up with a definition of “natural” that doesn’t exclude things that are clearly natural or includes things that are unnatural.