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this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2023
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But you see the arbitrary distinction that you’re setting up by differentiating man as separate from nature. I’d argue that humans themselves are “natural” creatures. But every human alive is “man made”
I’m not making a philosophical or physiological distinction.
I’m making a semantic and etymological one.
Nature, as its defined in the English language, is used to describe things that aren’t human creations.
Sometimes it’s used to describe things that, even if manipulated by humans, is distinct from an artificial, chemical or industrial process. Like “natural remedies”. Sometimes it’s just a marketing term, “natural flavors” in a soda brand.
Humans categorically can’t be nature - because we use the word “nature” specifically to distinguish our own creations from the rest of the world.
A human can choose to live in nature, meaning they’re living in a place that is plurality not man-made. An cabin in an unplanned forest, versus Midtown Manhattan. But even then, the human is the not-nature thing. They’re only surrounded by it.