Editing Nature (section)

{{Short description|Material world and its phenomena}}
{{Redirect|Natural|other uses|Natural (disambiguation)|and|Nature (disambiguation)}}
{{Pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2018}}
[[File:Startrails above Gunung Bromo - Indonesia.jpg|upright=1.3|thumb|A timelapse composite panorama of different natural phenomena and environments around [[Mount Bromo]], Indonesia.]]

'''Nature''' is an inherent character or constitution,<ref name="Merriam-Webster 2024 d901">{{cite web | title=Definition of NATURE | website=Merriam-Webster | date=January 2, 2024 | url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nature | access-date=January 7, 2024 | archive-date=January 2, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240102145752/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nature | url-status=live }}</ref> particularly of the [[Ecosphere (planetary)|ecosphere]] or the [[universe]] as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the [[Scientific law|laws]], elements and [[phenomenon|phenomena]] of the physical world, including [[life]]. Although humans are part of nature, human activity or humans as a whole are often described as at times at odds, or outright [[Anthropocentrism|separate and even superior]] to nature.<ref name="What does nature mean"/>

During the advent of modern [[scientific method]] in the last several centuries, nature became the passive [[reality]], organized and moved by divine laws.<ref>Isaac Newton's [[Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica]] (1687), for example, is translated "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy", and reflects the then-current use of the words "[[natural philosophy]]", akin to "systematic study of nature"</ref><ref>The etymology of the word "physical" shows its use as a synonym for "natural" in about the mid-15th century: {{OEtymD|physical|access-date=September 20, 2006}}</ref> With the [[Industrial Revolution]], nature increasingly became seen as the part of reality deprived from intentional intervention: it was hence considered as sacred by some traditions ([[Jean-Jacques Rousseau|Rousseau]], American [[transcendentalism]]) or a mere decorum for [[divine providence]] or human history ([[Hegel]], [[Marx]]). However, a [[vitalist]] vision of nature, closer to the pre-Socratic one, got reborn at the same time, especially after [[Charles Darwin]].<ref name="What does nature mean" />

Within the various uses of the word today, "nature" often refers to [[geology]] and [[wildlife]]. Nature can refer to the general realm of [[life|living beings]], and in some cases to the processes associated with inanimate objects—the way that particular types of things exist and change of their own accord, such as the weather and geology of the [[Earth]]. It is often taken to mean the "[[natural environment]]" or [[wilderness]]—wild animals, rocks, forest, and in general those things that have not been substantially altered by human intervention, or which persist despite human intervention. For example, manufactured objects and human interaction generally are not considered part of nature, unless qualified as, for example, "human nature" or "the whole of nature". This more traditional concept of natural things that can still be found today implies a distinction between the natural and the artificial, with the artificial being understood as that which has been brought into being by a human [[consciousness]] or a human [[mind]]. Depending on the particular context, the term "natural" might also be distinguished from the [[Wikt:unnatural|unnatural]] or the [[supernatural]].<ref name="What does nature mean"/>