Man is a participant in Nature, and a very special one, for he is capable of recognizing and comprehending Nature from an objective viewpoint. Nature is everything. Or, from Man's foolish perspective, it is everything that is not Man. Either way, Nature Is. I never thought about it until the course description, but the idea of the course as being interdisciplinary struck me.
Nature does include science, philosophy and art.
Nature is the life we as humans attempt to understand. It is the world we attempt to control and manipulate for our benefit and comfort. Nature is a basis for what we interpret as beautiful as well as what we consider harmful or unpleasant. As I continue to write in this abstract fashion, I'm discovering that my introductory sentence is not consistent because as members of this world, we are a part of nature contributing in all our actions both voluntary or involuntary Nature to me is the other part of the world that mostly gets ignored. It is the pure form of life, that is when man doesn't interfere with theit lifestyles.