Nature
Outline · 2 ›
1.The meaning and definition of nature
1a.Nature as the settled course ordained by God
See also: God 6a
Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44
- p. 59–60Heaven does not speak, yet seasons revolve and all things multiply.read · scan
Cleanthes, The Hymn of CleanthesVol. 2
- p. 186–187God is sovereign of Nature; the world obeys him.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, HellVol. 20
- p. 45Nature follows the divine mind and its art; usury offends by defying natural increase.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, ParadiseVol. 20
- p. 317–318Nature is the seal to mortal wax, doing her art well in her circuitous course.read · scan
Sir Walter Raleigh, Preface to the History of the WorldVol. 39
- p. 108–109Ambiguity of 'Nature' hides God's glory; nature works only when matter is present and lacks choice, so cause is Godread · scan
- p. 109Nature is obedient, has nothing in itself, works by impulsion and infused faculty without knowing itselfread · scan
Sir Thomas Browne, Religio MediciVol. 3
- p. 266Nature is God's servant and public manuscript; defined as the settled course God ordained, not a principle acting on its own.read · scan
William Penn, Some Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1
- p. 321–322The world is a stately volume of natural things few read.read · scan
George Berkeley, Three Dialogues Between Hylas and PhilonousVol. 37
- p. 240–241The regular course of nature is accounted for by God's wisdom rather than by matter.read · scan
- p. 251–252Berkeley's Philonous says the laws of nature are the rules by which an eternal Mind exhibits sensible things to us, independent of finite minds.read · scan
- p. 257–258Effects ascribed to Nature or unthinking principles are really produced by God.read · scan
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, On Poesy or ArtVol. 27
- p. 256Nature is to the religious observer the art of God.read · scan
George Long, The Philosophy of AntoninusVol. 2
- p. 326Long analyzes the meaning of Nature: Butler's 'stated, fixed, settled' and Plato's course according to nature under divine order, rejecting vague personified uses.read · scan
- p. 328–329Long holds Antoninus's sense of Nature agrees with his belief in the ever-active energy of God.read · scan
- p. 329–330The hymn deprives Nature of her power and places her under the Deity's government.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, BeautyVol. 5
- p. 309Facts of Nature form the grammar of an eternal language; landscape supplies the images of beauty.read · scan
1b.Nature as the aggregate of natural laws
The Bhagavad-Gita; or, Song CelestialVol. 45
- p. 800All things are wrought by Nature through interaction of qualities; the fool thinks himself the doer.read · scan
- p. 818–819Nature frames the moods; the world is deceived by the three qualities and does not know him beyond them.read · scan
- p. 850–851Nature and Spirit are both beginningless; Nature works the changes and qualities while Spirit informs the body.read · scan
- p. 851–853Works are Nature's wont, used by the Soul; the soul acts not.read · scan
- p. 869–870Nothing living on earth or among the gods is free of the three qualities framed by nature.read · scan
Sir Walter Raleigh, Preface to the History of the WorldVol. 39
- p. 104Contrasts God's free choice with natural necessity, which works without will, like fire burning combustibles; world's eternity argued against.read · scan
René Descartes, Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason and Seeking the Truth in the SciencesVol. 34
- p. 35Laws established in nature by God, impressed on our minds, are observed in all that exists.read · scan
- p. 35Natural formation of mountains, seas, rivers, metals and plants from the laws of matter.read · scan
Sir Isaac Newton, Preface to the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia MathematicaVol. 39
- p. 150–152Newton hopes the remaining phenomena of nature can be derived from mechanical principles, via forces between particles; previous searches of nature failed.read · scan
Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of MoralsVol. 32
- p. 332Nature in the general sense is existence determined by universal laws, used as the model for the moral test.read · scan
- p. 346–347The imperative may be expressed as acting on maxims that could be universal laws of nature, analogous to nature's lawful connexion.read · scan
- p. 348Kingdom of nature as a machine-like system of efficient causes, analogous to the kingdom of ends.read · scan
Michael Faraday, The Forces of MatterVol. 30
- p. 9Wonder that so few powers govern all the phenomena of nature.read · scan
- p. 22Speaks of the laws of nature and how they act.read · scan
Michael Faraday, The Chemical History of a CandleVol. 30
- p. 140Says ordinary burning stays within the laws Nature has made for our guidance, free of strange effects.read · scan
Sir Charles Lyell, Prejudices Which Have Retarded the Progress of GeologyVol. 38
- p. 385Former course of nature is seen as conforming to present natural laws.read · scan
- p. 386Progress of knowledge replaces prodigies and supernatural causes with fixed, invariable laws; the philosopher trusts the uniformity of nature's secondary causes across past ages.read · scan
- p. 394Natural processes of decomposition, sedimentation and volcanic action are the subject of the earth's history.read · scan
- p. 396–397Nature's course is uniform, yet geologists expected deviations in the past they would doubt in the present.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, CirclesVol. 5
- p. 152–153About generalization and unifying law in thought; 'one law' reconciling facts only loosely touches natural order. Not really about nature.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, GiftsVol. 5
- p. 219Nature deals with us by severe universal laws, not fondly; flowers seem the frolic of love and beauty.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, PoliticsVol. 5
- p. 239Nature is neither democratic nor monarchical but despotic, and will not be fooled.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 87Analysis gives knowledge of permanent sequences and natural laws in nature independent of our will.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Origin of SpeciesVol. 11
- p. 87–88Nature means only the aggregate action of natural laws, the sequence of events as ascertained.read · scan
Thomas Henry Huxley, Science and CultureVol. 28
- p. 218Nature is an order with which nothing interferes; mankind's business is to learn it and govern itself accordingly.read · scan
1c.The ambiguity of the word and the limits of our knowledge of nature
See also: Mind 6c
Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9
- p. 259He describes a natural marvel, the intermittent spring, observed by testing with a ring.read · scan
Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus AureliusVol. 2
- p. 205–206Only one truly familiar with nature's works perceives such beauty.read · scan
- p. 277Without studying nature one imagines and neglects many things.read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 189Searching out the hidden powers of nature is called useless to know and beyond our end.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 235A great fish becomes overgrown with sand and trees, deceiving travelers about the natural scene.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Proœmium, Epistle Dedicatory, Preface, and Plan of the Instauratio MagnaVol. 39
- p. 116The mind must wait upon nature rather than vainly affecting to overrule her.read · scan
- p. 136–137To examine the real world rather than invent fabulous worlds, one must go to facts; nature will not yield otherwise.read · scan
- p. 141–142Man is servant and interpreter of nature, knowing and doing only what he has observed of her order.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Preface to the Novum OrganumVol. 39
- p. 145–146Interpretation of Nature aims to overcome nature in action and enter her inner chambers.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The TempestVol. 46
- p. 459–461Alonso says these strange events are beyond the conduct of nature and need an oracle to rectify knowledge.read · scan
René Descartes, Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason and Seeking the Truth in the SciencesVol. 34
- p. 51The power of nature is vast, its principles simple and general.read · scan
Sir Thomas Browne, Religio MediciVol. 3
- p. 291Works of nature puzzle reason and contain something divine.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise LostVol. 4
- p. 129Nature's outermost verge begins where Chaos retreats before the light of Heaven, as Satan nears the world.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 27Nature's immensity is contained in the smallest atom.read · scan
- p. 28Men rashly examine nature as though proportionate to her.read · scan
- p. 99–100Nature has refused us instinctive knowledge of everything.read · scan
- p. 144Nature sustains our feeble reason against total doubt.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, Minor WorksVol. 48
- p. 436–437One admires the grandeur and power of nature in the double infinity surrounding us.read · scan
- p. 444Ridicules attributing passions such as horror of vacuum to inanimate bodies lacking soul or organs.read · scan
John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning EducationVol. 37
- p. 163Locke holds the works of nature are contrived by a wisdom surpassing our faculties, so natural philosophy can never be a true science; it studies spirits and bodies.read · scan
- p. 165Systems of natural philosophy yield no certain knowledge of nature's works, yet study of nature is worthwhile through experiments and observation, which reward the curious.read · scan
William Penn, Some Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1
- p. 321Knowing the world and the body would benefit and please us.read · scan
George Berkeley, Three Dialogues Between Hylas and PhilonousVol. 37
- p. 248–249Hylas says nature never intended us for speculation.read · scan
David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human UnderstandingVol. 37
- p. 308–309Hume: laws of nature and operations of bodies are known only by experience, not by a priori reason; custom conceals natural ignorance.read · scan
- p. 309–310Hume: no necessary connection of cause and effect in natural operations can be discovered a priori; any effect is conceivable, so only experience grounds inference.read · scan
- p. 310Hume: ultimate causes of natural phenomena (gravity, elasticity, cohesion) are beyond human inquiry; natural philosophy only reduces phenomena to general principles.read · scan
- p. 312Nature conceals secret powers, giving us only superficial qualities of objects.read · scan
- p. 330–331Nature secures inference of like effects from like causes by instinct, though we do not know her hidden powers.read · scan
Edmund Burke, Preface to the Second Edition of On the Sublime and BeautifulVol. 24
- p. 7–8The characters of nature are legible but not plain enough to be read hastily.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19
- p. 25–26Faust sees nature's vital energy in the sign of the Macrocosm, yet laments it is only a show and longs for its fountains of life.read · scan
- p. 33–34Nature stays inscrutable in broad light and refuses to be unveiled by force.read · scan
William Ellery Channing, On the Elevation of the Laboring ClassesVol. 28
- p. 323–324Nature is named as one of the perpetual subjects of thought, alongside Scripture and society, open to anyone seeking truth, learned or not.read · scan
- p. 324–325Urges inquiry into the elements, connections and reasons of things in outward nature as well as in the self and society.read · scan
- p. 347Objectors claim nature has laid a heavy law on the mass; Channing rejects this natural necessity.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 445–446Fabulous wonders of nature: herbs, animals, crystals and pearls.read · scan
Michael Faraday, The Forces of MatterVol. 30
- p. 7We live amid nature's wonderful laws yet feel no wonder at the ordinary powers that let us stand and move.read · scan
Sir Charles Lyell, Prejudices Which Have Retarded the Progress of GeologyVol. 38
- p. 387Mummies imagined as abortions of Nature or plastic virtue of the earth.read · scan
George Long, The Philosophy of AntoninusVol. 2
- p. 327–328Order of Nature seems fixed within experience, yet our knowledge of the sequence of phenomena is and must be imperfect.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, The American ScholarVol. 5
- p. 8Nature is the opposite and counterpart of the soul, seal and print; its beauty and laws are those of the mind.read · scan
- p. 20The highest spiritual cause lurks in the extremities of nature, giving the world form and order.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, CirclesVol. 5
- p. 155–156Nature is a system of concentric circles, its qualities only words of God, fugitive and never final.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, NatureVol. 5
- p. 232–233Nature mocks, leading us on to nowhere; we are encamped, not domesticated, in a system of approximations.read · scan
- p. 233–235Natural scenery entices yet fails to give present satisfaction; nature always seems to lie elsewhere.read · scan
- p. 235To the intelligent, nature is a vast promise whose secret remains untold and which will not be rashly explained.read · scan
- p. 236Nature is the incarnation of a thought; the world is mind precipitated, and natural objects instruct the mind.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Origin of SpeciesVol. 11
- p. 53Variability is governed by many unknown laws, not an inherent necessity under all circumstances.read · scan
- p. 496Nature reveals her scheme of modification through rudimentary organs, though we are too blind to understand.read · scan
John Ruskin, Sesame and LiliesVol. 28
- p. 101Nature hides gold in scattered fissures rather than laying it on mountain tops, requiring painful digging.read · scan
1d.Nature personified as goddess, mother or presence
Sophocles, AntigoneVol. 8
- p. 260–266Earth is called the oldest and mightiest of gods, worn by man's plough year by year.read · scan
Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus AureliusVol. 2
- p. 215–216Addresses Nature/Universe: all things are from, in and return to thee; whatever is timely for the universe suits me.read · scan
Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36
- p. 189–191Nature, as a tender mother, puts necessary things like air, water and earth in the open and hides vain things.read · scan
- p. 201Mother nature allures her children to needful acts with pleasure; rejecting her benefits is unkind to nature.read · scan
Michel de Montaigne, That to Philosophise Is to Learne How to DieVol. 32
- p. 26Nature as universal mother teaches that life and death are indifferent; every day marches toward death.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King LearVol. 46
- p. 225–226Edmund makes Nature his goddess and mocks the custom that brands bastards base.read · scan
- p. 236–238Lear invokes Nature as goddess to suspend her purpose and make Goneril barren; ingratitude is 'disnatur'd'.read · scan
John Milton, Poems Written at School and at College, 1624-1632Vol. 4
- p. 9–11Winds, waves, stars and sun hush in wonder at the Prince of Light's birth; Nature thinks her reign fulfilled.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise LostVol. 4
- p. 129The Abyss is the womb of Nature and perhaps her grave.read · scan
- p. 180Earth as all-bearing mother yields fruit of every kind.read · scan
- p. 227Earth described as a great mother conceiving from moisture, mountains rising and waters withdrawing.read · scan
Thomas Gray, PoemsVol. 40
- p. 455–456Nature as mighty Mother unveils her face to the infant Shakespeare by the Avon.read · scan
Oliver Goldsmith, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 522–523Nature is a kind mother; Italy's bounteous landscape is described.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19
- p. 23–24He contrasts nature's living sphere with the dusty study of skeletons and bones.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 46–48Auld Nature made woman her noblest work, trying her prentice hand on man first.read · scan
- p. 224–226Great Nature commands the human race to be fruitful; the bard obeys her behest.read · scan
- p. 310–311Festive scene in woods and streams personified, Nature's gaiety.read · scan
- p. 320Poet arraigns partial Nature for arming every creature with defenses but leaving the bard naked.read · scan
- p. 423–425Poet arraigns partial Nature, who gave beasts and statesmen defenses but left the Bard naked and fenceless.read · scan
William Wordsworth, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 633–635Parent Nature calls; streams and hills invite the poet, and Yarrow's beauty answers to his dreams.read · scan
- p. 670–672Nature claims Lucy and shapes her through storm, stars and rivulets, giving her law and impulse.read · scan
George Gordon, Lord Byron, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 792–794Alpine landscapes and lake console him; Nature is his early friend and now his sister.read · scan
Percy Bysshe Shelley, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 866–867The dead poet is made one with Nature, his voice in all her music, a presence in herb and stone.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, CharacteristicsVol. 25
- p. 320Nature, like a kind mother, hides her mystery so man can walk securely on the abyss, giving vision and blindness alike.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, An Address Delivered before the Senior Class in Divinity CollegeVol. 5
- p. 27–28One mind active in each star-ray and wavelet; the good man is strong by the whole strength of Nature; Law sovereign over all natures; sentiment makes sky and hills sublime.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1257Nature is rhymed, harmonious and wiser than man; man is an exile who has lost his kinship with herread · scan
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, MontaigneVol. 32
- p. 109Contemplating mother nature's majesty and variety shows whole kingdoms as specks, letting one value things truly.read · scan
Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17
- p. 281–282The North Wind brings hail, snow and cold, personifying the natural elements.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23
- p. 313Storm personified as the genius of the place resisting the ship's passage.read · scan
Henry David Thoreau, WalkingVol. 28
- p. 417–418Nature as vast, wild, affectionate mother; society weans us from her, and culture should draw on wildness and leave most of a man uncultivated.read · scan
- p. 420Few are strongly attracted to Nature; men appreciate her beauty less than animals do.read · scan
- p. 421Nature as a vast personality never fully seen; the narrator lives a border life at her confines, seeking a natural life.read · scan
Outline · 2 ›