Natural
How Faith in Nature's Goodness Leads to Harmful Fads, Unjust Laws, and Flawed Science
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Illuminates the far-reaching harms of believing that natural means “good,” from misinformation about health choices to justifications for sexism, racism, and flawed economic policies.
People love what’s natural: it’s the best way to eat, the best way to parent, even the best way to act—naturally, just as nature intended. Appeals to the wisdom of nature are among the most powerful arguments in the history of human thought. Yet Nature (with a capital N) and natural goodness are not objective or scientific. In this groundbreaking book, scholar of religion Alan Levinovitz demonstrates that these beliefs are actually religious and highlights the many dangers of substituting simple myths for complicated realities. It may not seem like a problem when it comes to paying a premium for organic food. But what about condemnations of “unnatural” sexual activity? The guilt that attends not having a “natural” birth? Economic deregulation justified by the inherent goodness of “natural” markets?
In Natural, readers embark on an epic journey, from Peruvian rainforests to the backcountry in Yellowstone Park, from a “natural” bodybuilding competition to a “natural” cancer-curing clinic. The result is an essential new perspective that shatters faith in Nature’s goodness and points to a better alternative. We can love nature without worshipping it, and we can work toward a better world with humility and dialogue rather than taboos and zealotry.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Levinovitz, professor of religion at James Madison University, makes a nuanced plea for a more informed relationship with the natural world in this evocative, convincing work. Arguing that "natural goodness" often serves as "a mercenary ethic that anyone can hire to fight for their cause," he asks readers to stop idolizing what's "natural," so as to take better care of nature and society's neediest. Levinovitz believes a balance needs to be struck between awe of the natural world and its preservation, and is critical of appeals that defend socioeconomic disparity (such as the virtue of "natural" products with exorbitant price tags), eschew modern medicine (as with vaccine refusal), or reduce wildness to human terms (hunters "giving animals a sporting chance' "). Rich with interviews, anecdotes, and citations, Levinovitz's work makes a strong case for the wisdom of compromise and humility. While Levinovitz is more articulate about what he's against than what he's for, he argues that "passionate activism is completely compatible with acknowledging complexity and ambiguity." It may seem paradoxical indeed, but this argument for removing "natural" from the altar of absolute good will certainly start conversations, particularly among naturalists and environmentalists.
