Is Artificial Selection considered Natural?

This question may very well be more philosophical than biological.

"Does the human influence on the natural world still count as 'natural' as we are ourselves part of nature and our actions are no different than, for example, a swarm of wasps decimating a hive of bees?"

In comparison, we have decimated many species through our actions, be it hunting to extinction, or flushing excess antibiotics down the toilet in our urine through over/unnecessary-prescription.

Are we part of nature, or are we controlling it?

 

It's fundamentally a biology question Artificial selection is the intentional reproduction of individuals in a population that has desirable traits. None of your examples you listed even qualify for artificial selection or ever would. Hunting is natural selection and I don't even understand your other one. Your whole question are we part of nature or are we controlling it is a fallacy since you have to be apart of nature to control it. You have to meet the nature condition before you can control it. So your whole premise doesn't make sense.

 

It's not philosophical at all. Natural selection is when weak organisms die and the non-weak ones are left. Artificial selection is when humans intentionally bring out 'strong' traits by manipulating the genome of the organism. They are very distinguishable.

If animals die and their weak traits disappear due to our actions, it's natural selection. If we take an animal and manipulate their genome in order to produce strong traits, it's artificial selection.

 

It's really a question of definitions. How do you define "natural"? Your definition will give you your answer.

 

Specifying (as you subsequently do, and as Shredderbeam suggests in the post above) which actions in particular is an important part of your question.

Moreover, action's motivation also ought to be considered.

Why do wasps destroy bee hives?

Very probably not in order to convert bees to another religion.

Both, no?

 

I don't see how you could really call anything man does unnatural. If there's a god, god made us and everything we make is something he created. If not, and there is no God, we're a result of natural, universal forces, and everything we make is made from materials that have been present since the creation of the universe.