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.

Aristotle used the idea of nature to explain that which defines the essence of something. The essence is the properties that define what a thing is. For example, the essence of water will be its molecular structure.

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

The idea of nature is most widely used in philosophy.

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