“[It] appears that we must recognise at least two principal
meanings in the word 'nature.' In one sense, it means all the
powers existing in either the outer or the inner world and
everything which takes place by means of those powers. In
another sense, it means, not everything which happens, but only
what takes place without the agency, or without the voluntary
and intentional agency, of man. This distinction is far from
exhausting the ambiguities of the word; but it is the key to
most of those on which important consequences depend.” John
Stuart Mill, On Nature, 1874 Nature as a term can be inclusive
and exclusive. It may include everything in existence or exclude
products of human agency (e.g. cities, corn fields, art,
technology, pollution) from the rest of the world (e.g. old-
growth forest, boulders, elephants, fire, snowfall). The
distinction is blurred when we think of tree farms, artificial
lungs, and cloned sheep. Many words have dual meanings, but
perceptions of nature can influence our place in the