According to philosophers and cultural critic, it is illegitimate to invoke the authority of nature in moral, social, and political matters. Nature is what is, not what ought to be the case. Yet history shows us that in many epochs and diverse cultures, nature‘s authority has been enlisted to serve both revolutionary and reactionary causes, from the campaign for equality of all human beings to the justification of slavery. There are contemporary examples as well, especially in the realms of reproduction, gender, and sexuality. Why can‘t we stop appealing to nature‘s authority in human debates about right and wrong?

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