Concept of Nature:

Western Perspectives

Dr. Keith Chan (2017)

1. Greek view of Nature
Nature (physis) means
 (1) a living, organic and developmental
beings; or

 (2) the metaphysical, behind-phenomena

unchangeable “substance”.
Nature 1 denotes a self-movement entity
(自然);
Nature 2 denotes a underlying principle
(本性)
1. Greek view of Nature
Pre-Socrates thinkers
 tries to find out the “origin” of
nature 1.

 that means they adopt the first

definition of nature regarded as
dynamic living being. (Thales: water;
Anaximenes: Air, etc)
1. Greek view of Nature
Plato:
“analogy of cave”, save the phenomenon
 Common to all “natural” things is their
being made of a single “substance”.

Form (Ideal) / intelligible world vs

Material world.

Eternal (unchanged) vs temporary

(change). The “real” being is the Form
(Nature 2)
1. Greek view of Nature
Aristotle:
Nature as self-moving, potential to actual
(growth), teleological perspective
towards end.

“Four Causes theory” (formal, material,

dynamic, teleological).

Nature is “teleological cause” towards

the end. The dynamic force towards the
end of beings is immanent instead of
outside the nature. (Plato is different in a
sense that cause of the beings is God)
1. Greek view of Nature
“Natural” is not the same as “artificial”
things that produced by “will” or “skill”.
From Nature 1 perspective, “artificial” beings
are secondary. Human “technique” is the
result of imitation of nature. Sport and
medicine are better then politics and law.
However, Plato disagree:
 that “Nature” is also the product created
by God’s will and skill.
Human being’s production of thing is
analogous with God’s creation (nature).
Therefore, Nature is also secondary 
Creator vs creation.
1. Greek view of Nature
Summary:
Nature 1 as vast living organism, vital &
dynamic movement, purposive &
directed by intellect.
All living beings are endowed with soul
and reason. Difference in a sense that
they are made up of different “substance”
“qualitative nature”.
Strict modern dualism of mind & matter
doesn’t exist. Favorable to
environmental ethics (Laura Westra &
Thomas M. Robinson, The Greeks and
the Environment)
2. Nature as Creation
( Christian Perspective)

Nature (human and sub-human)

as God’s creation
(Book of Genesis ch.3)
2. Nature as Creation
( Christian Perspective)
Pantheistic outlook is replaced
with monotheistic beliefs,
nature’s divine character is
removed, nature is dominated
by human being. (Lynn White)
2. Nature as Creation
( Christian Perspective)
Early Christianity:
Gnosticism rejects the
goodness of material and
temporary brings, asserts a
dualist division between spirit
and matter (body),
salvation is to escape the
human bodily flesh into the
eternal, timeless spirit realm.
2. Nature as Creation
( Christian Perspective)
Patristic theology of creation:
creation out of nothing. Non-
deity character of creation.
Reject the pre-existence of
creation. Reject dualist
thinking in creation.
Distinction between creator
and creation. “desacralization,”
“demystification”
2. Nature as Creation
( Christian Perspective)
Human being is created in
image of God. Superior to
other creatures.
2. Nature as Creation
( Christian Perspective)
Medieval period: monastic
tradition: desert father
(Anthony, born c.251), wildness
and spirituality,
Benedict Order, work as
partners of God in improving
the creation,
Franciscan Order,
appreciation with nature,
kinship with natural beings
3. Modern Perspectives
Renaissance:
“a kind of new spirit of rational, secular
humanism” (Jacob Burckhardt)
Renaissance
Renaissance
Renaissance
Renaissance
Renaissance
3. Modern Perspectives

New imagine of human being:

“individual” through classical
learning.
3. Modern Perspectives

“How it works” mentality

replaced medieval unpredictable
and uncontrollable character of
nature (God’s realm) -->
towards modern scientific mind-
set
3. Modern Perspectives

Nature as “knowable
entity”
3. Modern Perspectives

Reformation:
religion as a divine-human
matter (personal, subjective
and immediate relationship
 justification by faith)
3. Modern Perspectives

Luther:
theology of the cross vs
theology of glory (nature)
3. Modern Perspectives

Scientific Revolution:
Francis Bacon (1561-1626),
Galileo (1564-1642),
Descartes (1596-1650) and
Newton (1642-1727)
3. Modern Perspectives
Bacon:
 “knowledge itself is power”,
what is nature ? = what can
we do with nature ?

 Nature as a set of
measurable, rearrangeable,
infinitely malleable
components
3. Modern Perspectives
Galileo:
“universe cannot be read until we
have learnt the language and
become familiar with the characters
in which it is written.

It is written in mathematical

language, and the letters are
triangles, circles and other
geometrical figures …”
3. Modern Perspectives
Descartes:
Dualism: mind (res cogitans) and
matter (res extensa).
Former is irreducible, impenetrable
and disembodied.
Latter is knowable and manipulable.
“I think therefore I am”
(cogito ergo sum)
3. Modern Perspectives

Newton:
mathematical nature of
the universive
 3. Modern Perspectives
Summary:
Nature is regarded as a huge mechanism.
Separation between human (subject)
and nature (object).
Naturalism replaces the
supernaturalism and classical
metaphysical explanation.
Materialism (machine image + self-
regulative) Christianity was hand in
hand with this tendency: The more
nature (creation) is immanent, the more
Christian God is transcendence  Deism.
Natural Theology: study Nature is a way
to know God (God’s two books)
3. Modern Perspectives
Kant’s philosophy:
Transcendent Idealism + empirical
realism,
human knowledge (subjective form
+ objective sense-data).
Distinction between phenomenon
and thing-in-itself, religion as
human moral achievement
3. Modern Perspectives
Modern Perspective on human and
nature: epistemological gap (subject
and object).
Idealism enforced the absolute “I”.
Individualism: human being is viewed
as “atomistic individual”, difficult to
conceive internal relationship with
other beings.
Modern purposive rationality (Max
Weber)
3. Modern Perspectives
Capitalist & liberal idea of nature:
beings are regarded as “market-
value”, “exchange value” in a
market-oriented society.
Human beings are viewed as
“economic species”  maximization
of human happiness, utility of
beings.
Community is established by
contract relationship instead of the
internal ends of human.
4. Conclusion:
Two trends in western traditions:
Being and becoming.
According to Whitehead, western
philosophy is the footnote of Plato
 emphasis the “Being” tradition.
“Becoming” traditions may be more
“ecological”
4. Conclusion:

Anthropological triumph
(reason / feeling, spirit /
matter, culture / nature,
male / female)
4. Conclusion:

Individualistic
thinking vs
communitarian
thinking
The End