Naturalism is the name given to those systems of the philo.sophy of nature which explain the phenom- ena by a blind force act in- iircioarily. This doctrine is to be found in Lucniiu-. ami \vas held liy Lciicippus and Epicurus. The <s>/' /-/. d, J,i Nature of D'llolljach, the Traite de la Nature of i;(.l)inot, and the L'hilosophie de la Natu7-e of Delisle de Sales, also contain it. In theology the term naturalism is applied to all those forms of belief or speculation which deny the doctrine of a personal God as the author and governor of the universe; being thus opposed to Theism (q. v.). See Literature appended to article Natur.\l Tiikology.
Naturalists. This name, Avhich has now become nearly obsolete in a theological or philosophical sense, has been used to designate two sections of the anti- christian school which rejects belief in supernatural causes or operations. (1) The name has been mostly used by German writers for those who identify (iod with nature, but who are more generally known as Pan- thei.sts. (2) By English writers it is generally taken as signifj'ing those who consider natural religion to be sufficient for man's guidance and happiness without any supernatural revelation. But these latter may be sub- divided also into two classes, tlic Jirst of which has re- ceived the name of "Philosophical Naturalists," who accept revelation as containing truth, but as being at the best only a reduplication of natural religion, and so luniccessary. The name is rarely fnund in works writ- ten later than tlic IHth century, when it was used by Kant in (icrmany and by Boyle in England; and the school formerly known as Naturalists are now called Pantheists and Rationalist .s. — Blunt, Diet, (f Sects, Here- sies, etc., p. 631.
Nature. I. Nac-Test, Usage of the Word. — In
James i, 23 ; iii, G, the Greek is ytvitrig, -itug ; else- where, as Kom. i, 26, (pvaic. It is variously used for, 1, the laws of the natural or moral world (liom. i, 26; ii, 14 ; xi, 21, 24). 2. Birth, origin, or natural descent : '• Jews by nature" (Gal. ii, 15 ; Kom. ii, 27) ; " Which by nature are no gods" (Gal. iv, 8). 3. Genus, kind: "For every kind (marg. ^luiture') of beasts," etc., "is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind" (marg. "nature of man" [James iii, 4J). 4. The native mode of thinking, feeling, acting, as unenlightened and unsanctitied by the Holy Spirit: "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God" (1 Cor. ii, 14; comp. Eph. ii, 3). 5. Natu}-e also denotes a customary sense of pro- priety : " Doth not nature itself teach you that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto himV" (1 Cor. xi, 14). It was the national custom among both the Hebrews and Greeks for men to wear the hair short.
II. Philosophical Import of the Word. — "The term nature is used sometimes in a wider, sometimes in a narrower extension. When employed in its most ex- tensive meaning, it embraces the two worlds of mind and matter. When employed in its more restricted signification, it is a synonyme for the latter only, and is then used in contradistinction to the former. In the Greek philosophy, the word <pvaiQ was general in its meaning; and the great branch of philosophy, styled •physical or physiological,' included under it not only the sciences of matter, but also those of mind. With us, the term nature is more vaguely extensive than the terms physics, physical, physiology, physiological, or even than the adjective natural; whereas, in the philosophy of (iermany, naiur and its correlatives, whether of Greek or Latin derivation, are in general expressive of the world of matter in contrast to the world of intel- ligence" (Sir AV. Hamilton, Keid's Woi-ks, p. 216, note),
" The word nature has been used in two senses, viz., actively and passively; energetic (=forma formans), and material {^firmaformata). In the first it signi- fies the inward principle of whatever is re(iuisite for the reality of a thing as existent ; while the essence, or essen- tial property, signifies the inner principle of all that ap- pertains to the possibility of a thing. Hence, in accu- rate language, we say the essence of a mathematical circle or geometrical figure, not the nature, because in the conception of forms, purely geometrical, there is no expression or implication of their real existence. In the second or material sense of the word nature, we mean by it the sum total of all things, as far as they are objects of our senses, and consequently of possible experience — the aggregate of phenomena, whether ex- j isting for our outer senses or for our imier sense. The doctrine concerning nature would therefore (the word physiology being both ambiguous in itself, and already otherwise a|ipro])riatcd) be more properly entitled phe- nomentildgy, distinguished into its two grand divisions, somatology and psycliology" (Coleridge, Friend, p. 410).
Nature, Divine. See article c;oi>, in vol. iii, p. 908 s(}.
Nature, Human. Sec Body; Imagi: of God;
SdII.; SlMlMT.
Nature, La'ws of. In the question raised under this title the following points must be considered: (1) the substance itself of nature? (2) the forces working in and through it; and (3) their production always of identical results under identical circumstances. This immutable connection is intuitively considered as an inherent necessity, the result of experience as as- sumed by reason. On the other hand all the known laws of nature arc .sometimes considered as a whole, termed then natural law, by virtue of which all nature forcibly working, and by the combination of all its in- herent forces, gives rise to all effects. In this sense, liowever, natural law can only be fully appreciated by contrast. This is afforded in two ways by theology, in which it gives ri.sc to theories that have attained at times undue preponderance. Wc find it first in the do-