Nihilism And Naturalism

When natural comes to mind, what do people think about? What is natural in the grocery stores? What behaviors do we do naturally? Does natural mean a good or bad? In “Why Doesn’t Natural Mean Anything Anymore” by Michael Pollan, he analyzes the word “natural”.

The definition of natural is a controversial argument that seems to never have a specific view. Many people use Nature to identify social identifies or use social identities to attempt to figure out the true meaning of Nature. History has made a hole in the perception of what is natural to people, for this same reason, there exist many people who believe white individuals have the ideology that they are supreme. Through this ideology laws were made and for the most part, white males had a slight higher advantage from women of both white and color. Through readings that reference Nature, the definition of Nature or how the authors believe is to be will become more understanding.

When Jack London wrote "To Build a Fire" he embraced the idea of naturalism because it mirrored the events of daily life. Naturalism showed how humans had to be wary at every corner because at anytime death could be there, waiting for them to make a mistake and forfeit their lives. He used naturalism, the most realistic literary movement, to show how violent and uncaring nature really is and how no matter what you do nature will always be there. London also presented the basic idea of Darwinism and the survival of the fittest, basically if you are dumb you will die. Collectively, London used naturalism to show how in life, humans can depend on nothing

Theistic existentialism begins with acceptance of all the propositions of theism. It’s main differences concern human nature and our relationship to God and the cosmos.

Nature is what we think and it is influenced by genetic inheritance and other biological factors. In the nature versus nature debate nature refers to an individual’s innate qualities. An example of nature is that nature is your genes. The physical and personal traits determined by your genes stay the same no matter where an individual was born or raised. Factors of nature are biological and family factors. In nature physical traits may be a result of environmental factors for

Naturalism is a very intense style of literature that an author can use. With naturalism, the author is trying to convey knowledge acquired through the senses and experiences they them selves have been through. In the novel of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, he portrays elements of naturalism through his very own sights and experiences. During the depression John Steinbeck got a first hand dose of what it meant to deal with sordid aspects of life. Just like his book, he portrays his accounts using highly realistic settings, and brutal characters with foul mouths that deal with depressing issues of life. In the real world things happen, but in the world of Mice and Men, nothing ever seems to happen the way the characters hope.

Nature refers to our genes and things we inherit from our blood relatives genes. This could be anything from our eye color, weight, height, or weather we are shy. Nature is our genes which is personal characteristics and what we look

The nature of life can be described as how someone experiences the world around them. Depending on a person’s beliefs, the nature of life can be composed by questioning the understanding someone has about the mind, body and soul (quote text book). The understanding of the mind, body, and soul between Nao Koa’s perspective and Neil Ernst’s perspective run the gamut. Nao Koa’s nature of life is based primarily off of the Hmong culture.

Naturalism is about bringing humans into the “natural world”. We, as humans, are seen as aspects of nature collectively not separate like they once were. “Naturalism holds that everything we are and do is connected to the rest of the world and derived from conditions that precede us and surround us. Each of us is an unfolding natural process, and every aspect of that process is caused, and is a cause itself ” (“A Guide for Naturalism”). Humans are like “animals” they contain the same drives that animals have. They are just plain “natural”. Many authors express naturalism in their writings such as Kate Chopin. She expresses a naturalistic view on sexual drives which classify her as a

Naturalism is “a philosophical viewpoint according to which everything arises from natural properties and causes.” A Naturalist is “a person who practices naturalism in art or literature.” Stephen Crane is a famous writer during the Naturalism movement, and best develops Naturalist beliefs throughout his stories. Naturalists believe an individual’s life is determined by environment, chance, and heredity. They also believe free will is an illusion, survival of the fittest and natural selection govern people as well as nature, and people resort to the animal within during crisis situations. Naturalists also believe people should endure their suffering with quiet dignity. Stephen Crane uses characters, setting, plot, and conflict to develop Naturalist themes in “An Episode of War,” and “A Mystery of Heroism.”

While The Natural contains many attributes from each perspective, the analysis can best be related to structuralism and semiology. Joseph Campbell mentions a good point while discussing the function of mythology by saying that, “one of the functions of mythology is to guide human spirit by providing common or universal symbols that offset that darker nature of humans” (Wood & Pincus, 22). The Natural most certainly follows this function with the underlying network of symbolic meaning along with its many symbols. Each of the metaphors discussed by Wood and Pincus can relate to the points previously mentioned in the structuralism/semiology section and their analysis includes some aspects not previously noted that would further contribute to the underlying structure, such as the ‘universal

Beginning in the late 19th century, two separate movements spread across America know as realism and naturalism. While the two were very similar in their beliefs and ideals there were still many apparent distinctions to differentiate the two. Realism and naturalism showed themselves in many aspects of life, from art and sciences to new math techniques and even religion. However, above all else these movements may have been most evident in the literature of this time. Reading through American literature of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it becomes perceptible which short stories portray realism and which represent nationalism.

Naturalism is a philosophy which emphasizes “the effect of heredity and environment on human nature and action” (Zhang) and incorporates realism to “suggest that social conditions… and environment [have] inescapable force in shaping human character” (Zhang). Furthermore, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Natural Philosophy explains that to Naturalists, “reality is exhausted by nature, containing nothing ‘supernatural’, and that the scientific method should be used to investigate all areas of reality” (Papineau). Naturalism (in literature) is an idea that suggests everything about humanity is measurable, detectable, manipulatable, and traceable to a cause, and therefore the characters of Naturalist literature would be illustrated as simply the products of their environments; vessels devoid of spiritual guidance or fate that are subject only to their environments. An example of a Naturalistic novel is The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton; a novel set in late 19th century New York that follows Lily Bart: a young woman who was born rich but is slowly losing both her societal status and her money whilst she repeatedly avoids marriage, her only option to escape her fate: a life of poverty. With this in mind, The House of Mirth is an exemplary example of a Naturalistic novel because of its portrayal of characters as the product of their environments.

This is similar to something like puberty. Under normal conditions, a human will undergo puberty. This is due to biology, and certain data that is received that the body is ready for such changes, and it is not something that can be learned.

Naturalism is a scientific aspect to examine the meaning of life. All life has started with the Big Bang 15 billion years ago. This position suggests that the meaning of life can be found by the origin of life. However, as scientific fact shows that there is no time and space before the Big Bang, life is determined as meaningless.