View Single Post
Old 02-13-2012, 12:42 PM   #18
R.A. Robertson
Dojo: Still Point Aikido Center
Location: Austin, TX, USA
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 346
Offline
Re: D: Direction, Decision, and Discipline

Years ago I got tired of seeing the "human" and the "natural" depicted as a dichotomy. Instead of contrasting the human and the natural, I coined the terms "anthropogenic" and "non-anthropogenic," as a way of speaking of things that are, or are not, of human origin without the necessity of implying that these are somehow less natural than anything else.

I have since seen the terms used elsewhere, and since I very much doubt they got it from me, it seems that others have had similar ideas.

On a related note, my fencing (Western) coach made the distinction between what is instinctive and what is natural. He argued that not everything instinctive is automatically the most natural. In this context, I believe he was using the term "natural" to mean "effortlessly optimal" rather than "arising from organic or natural causes." In any case, I have found this distinction enormously helpful.

Good discussion.

RA
  Reply With Quote