ABSTRACT
The nature of nature has not only intrigued human beings since the beginning of recorded history. It has also in many important ways helped determine their attitudes to the world and, indeed, to themselves and God. Amidst all of the bewildering and kaleidoscopic changes of attitude over history, we can discern three major paradigms, or models, each with its own distinctive characteristics, each exclusive of the others, and each varying in prominence over time and space. In a word, nature has, to various persons and groups, seemed to possess the attributes of a divinity, an organism, or a mechanism. These different conceptions have overlapped in the past, but only at the end of the twentieth century have all three appeared together as popular competitors in the Western world. Today, the dilemma facing postmodernism is which of them to choose. In previous ages, there appeared to be little choice. We shall consider each model in turn.
