[lbo-talk] Caroline Fourest: In Praise of Consent

Miles Jackson cqmv at pdx.edu
Mon Jun 6 19:26:35 PDT 2011


On 06/06/2011 05:08 AM, c b wrote:
>
> ^^^^^^^
> CB: This part of this thread started with Ian saying we should
> discard the term "natural", especially in the context of "human
> nature". Why on earth would we , as materialists, discard the terms
> "nature" and "human nature" ? Then I said babies are completely
> natural and the womb is a natural environment.

The notion of a "natural environment" in contradistinction to some "unnatural environment" is logically incoherent. Given that any human characteristic is the result of the complex interaction of genetics and the environment in which genetic instructions are expressed, it makes no sense to talk about a "natural environment". Every environment is a "natural environment", if you mean an environment in which human genetic potential is expressed. So--a womb is a natural environment, just like classrooms, cafes, and baseball fields. --Or call them "social environments": that's a distinction without a difference.

Miles



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