Appeal to Nature Fallacy
Arguing that because something is “natural” it is therefore valid, justified, good, or ideal.
Isn't natural better?
“Natural” is hard to define without excluding clearly natural things or including clearly unnatural ones, and naturalness does not track moral or practical value.
The Very Special Remedies salesman rolled into town offering natural remedies like very special plain water, warning people to be wary of “artificial” medicines such as antibiotics.
Redressing the fallacy
- Ask the interlocutor to specify necessary and sufficient conditions for “natural”
- Use their definition to find counter-examples
- Natural and bad: hemlock, arsenic, amanita ocreata
- Unnatural and good: mosquito nets, winter boots, sunscreen