Explorations on the Idea of Nature

The idea of nature is sometimes used to refer to anything that exists as part of the physical world.

Natural is also used to refer to a spontaneous process instead of one that occurs as a deliberate result. For example, naturally grown plants vs artificially grown plants.

Nature in this sense is related to spontaneity, while nurture is the outcome of a cultural process. For example, education is seen as a process against nature. But any human development is shaped by the activity of interaction with other humans.

Then, for instance, there is no such thing as the natural development of human language.

The idea of nature can also be used to express the wilderness - that which lies at the edge of a cultural process.

If we consider the environmental impact on the whole ecosystem, there may be no real wild place left on our planet. In a looser sense, a walk in the forest or a trip on the ocean may be an experience that we can consider natural.

In the past millennia, nature has been used as the expression of the divine.

The idea of nature is part of most religions. It takes on specific forms, such as a mountain, sun, ocean, or fire, to include the whole sphere of existence.