Appeal to nature is a simplified type of naturalistic fallacy in argument form. An appeal to nature fallacy consists of a claim that something is good or right because it is natural, or that something is bad or wrong because it is unnatural. In this type of fallacy nature is often implied as an ideal or desired state of being, a state of how things were, should be, or are: in this sense an appeal to nature may resemble an appeal to tradition. George Edward Moore The naturalistic fallacy is an alleged logical fallacy, delineated by British philosopher G.E. Moore in Principia Ethica (1903). ... In logic, the argument form or test form of an argument results from replacing the different words, or sentences, that make up the argument with letters, along the lines of algebra; the letters represent logical variables. ... A fallacy is a component of an argument that is demonstrably flawed in its logic or form, thus rendering the argument invalid (except in the case of begging the question) in whole. ... Appeal to tradition, also known as appeal to common practice or argumentum ad antiquitatem is a common logical fallacy in which someone proclaims his or her accuracy by noting that this is how its always been done. ...

Several problems exist with this type of argument that makes it a fallacy. First of all the word "natural" is often a loaded term, usually unconsciously equated with normality, and its use in many cases is simply a form of bias. Second, "nature" and "natural" have vague definitions and thus the claim that something is natural may not be correct by every definition of the term natural; a good example would be the claim of all-natural foods, such as "all-natural" wheat, the claimed wheat though is usually a hybridised plant that has been breed by artificial selection. Lastly, the argument can quickly be invalidated by a counter-argument that demonstrates something that is natural that has undesirable properties (for example ageing, illness, and death are natural), or something that is unnatural that has desirable properties (for example, many modern medicines are not found in nature, yet have saved countless lives). A language construct, such as a word or a question, is said to be loaded if it carries meaning or implications beyond its strict definition (its denotation). ... Normality can mean Normality (chemistry) Normality (statistics) Used in the English language: Being normal. ... Ambiguity is one way in which the meanings of words and phrases can be unclear, but there is another way, which is different from ambiguity: vagueness. ... Species T. boeoticum T. compactum T. dicoccoides T. dicoccon T. durum T. monococcum T. spelta T. sphaerococcum References:   ITIS 42236 2002-09-22 Wheat (Triticum spp. ... In biology, hybrid has three meanings. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Generic forms of an appeal to nature are:

"X is Y because it is natural." (Y being a desirable property)

"X is Z because it is unnatural." (Z being an undesirable property)

Or simply when a desirable or undesirable property is implied:

"X is natural."

"X is unnatural."

Sources

• The Natural Law fallacy / Appeal to Nature
• Appeal to Nature