The main meaning of the word “unnatural” is “not found in nature”, which mostly mean “artificial”.
When we look at a human-made object, we can easily judge at first glance that it is “unnatural” because it cannot be found as it is in nature, and that it is artificial.
But such a distinction is not so clear when we think about it. Is the apple I am used to eating natural? Not really. It would not exist in nature without human intervention. Is the tomato I planted in my garden natural? Also, no for the same reason.
Let’s go a little further. Is an anthill natural? An anthill has a precise architecture that corresponds to a social structure and some culturally inscribed activities. Consequently, it is possible to say that it is not natural, because it cannot exist in nature without some kind of “work,” the work of the ant. It is artificial, even if not human-made.
As we have seen, it seems easy at first glance to consider something natural or not, but when we think about it, we quickly become confused.
In this post, I would like to discuss whether drugs are natural or not. To do this, we will take a detour and first focus on the question of whether “athletes” are natural or not.
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