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The term "natural" is often used by people who have faith in "natural" things, by marketers promoting a product, etc.

However, what is the definition of "natural"? Shouldn't everything that exist be natural, since it appeared at some point?

I'm looking for the different definitions that have been given to this term, especially when people refer to "natural" as a desirable feature.

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    There is a huge debate about Natural Kinds
    – Mauro ALLEGRANZA
    Jun 7, 2021 at 9:08
  • But when "natural" is used as a "valutative" world, implicitly assuming that whatever is natural is "good", it relies on an unsupported notion of "good" and on the false assertion that nature aims at it (what about plagues, earthquakes,...?)
    – Mauro ALLEGRANZA
    Jun 7, 2021 at 9:09
  • Two comments: Firstly, definitions are always borderline off-topic, secondly, it would help if you told why negative definitions like "not artificial", which basically are about things that would not exist without humans processing other things, do not satisfy you.
    – Philip Klöcking ♦
    Jun 7, 2021 at 9:10
  • @PhilipKlöcking "not artificial" raises the problem of what is "artificial"? Why would a beaver dam be more natural than a hut, for instance? At which point human "processing" sth makes this thing not being "natural" any longer? I'm actually looking for that kind of thoughts. I understand this might not be the good place to ask, is there any other SE site where it would be more appropriate?
    – Weier
    Jun 7, 2021 at 10:42
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    A similar titled question "what is information" just before yours has got 2K views quickly while this one only got 35 views so far, is this natural or man-made?
    – Double Knot
    Jun 9, 2021 at 1:16

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