Appeal to nature
An argument that judges something good because it is natural, or bad because it is unnatural. Its conclusion does not follow from naturalness alone.
Is–ought problem: The problem of deriving normative conclusions about what ought to be from descriptive claims about what is. The appeal moves from a claim about naturalness to a value judgment without supplying a normative premise.
Natural food: Food marketed or described as natural, a label with varying definitions and regulatory meanings. The label can imply health or safety without specifying which properties support those conclusions.
Appeal to tradition: An argument that treats a practice as correct or beneficial because it is longstanding. Tradition, like nature, can be treated as a shortcut to value without examining supporting reasons.
Natural health product: A health product derived from natural sources or marketed as natural, including supplements and herbal remedies. Marketing often turns natural origin into an implied claim of safety or effectiveness.
Naturalistic fallacy: G. E. Moore’s term for defining goodness as a natural property, such as pleasure or evolutionary fitness. The phrase is often conflated with the appeal, though Moore’s original argument targets definitions of good.
Naturalistic ethics: Ethical theories that ground moral standards in facts about human nature or the natural world. Some versions make nature morally authoritative, while others offer arguments beyond the appeal itself.
Appeal to novelty: An argument that treats something as better because it is new or modern. It reverses the appeal’s preference for the natural or old, while making the same unsupported move.
Organic food: Food produced under standards that restrict specified synthetic inputs and regulate farming and processing practices. Organic production has defined standards, but the label alone does not establish greater nutrition or safety.
Equivocation: A fallacy in which an argument uses a word with different meanings across its premises or conclusion. Arguments can shift between ‘natural’ meaning common, unprocessed, innate, or morally good.
Social Darwinism: A set of ideologies applying evolutionary ideas to justify social hierarchy and political or economic arrangements. It illustrates how descriptions of competition in nature have been used to defend social policies.