Dimensions of nature

This chapter further examines the concepts of nature, natural, and naturalness by developing an analysis of the natural/artificial distinction. Rather than constituting a simple binary opposition, natural and artificial are understood here as existing along a multidimensional continuum. The dimensions of this continuum—materials, purpose, authorship, and form—offer criteria, in decreasing order of importance, for assessing the degree to which something can be considered natural or artificial. These criteria apply not only to physical objects but also to processes, systems, qualities, and other phenomena. Building on this analysis, the chapter identifies common errors in the use of nature and naturalness in conservation and beyond, such as conflating different meanings of nature, treating nature solely as a set of processes, taking it as a moral standard, assuming that human influence is inherently destructive to naturalness, believing that a return from the artificial to the natural is impossible, and claiming that everything is either artifice or, conversely, nature. The final section examines additional key conservation concepts—such as environment, biodiversity, geodiversity, landscape, and wilderness—and their relation to naturalness.