NATURE L1- What is nature?

Question 1

Williams (1980)

Answer 1

“The idea of nature contains, though often unnoticed, an extraordinary amount of human history”

Question 2

Castree (2014)

Answer 2

4 aspects of nature:

1) External (non-human)
2) Universal
3) Intrinsic (an essential quality)
4) Super-ordinate (as a ‘power’)

Question 3

Olwig (1996)

Answer 3

“Nature is a ghost that rarely exists under its own name”

Question 4

Marx (1969, 192)

Answer 4

“Labour is, first of all, a process between man and nature”

Human activity is an agent of change upon nature- humans are also understood as forces of nature.

Question 5

Smith (1984)

Answer 5

Argues that humans produce new forms of nature- this production is always uneven.

Question 6

Delaney (2003)

Answer 6

Nature is a human made concept- this is a highly contested notion.

We use the concept of nature to make sense of the physical world- we do this by giving meaning and taking this meaning onto ourselves.

As nature is used in this way, it simultaneously makes nature more than merely physical.