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On the Nature of Things - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (1149 words) |
 | In his epic poem, the Roman philosopher and poet Lucretius argued (among many things) that everything in the universe is composed of tiny atoms moving about in an infinite void, rather than being the creation of deities as was common belief. |
| On the Nature of Things is a first century BC epic poem by Lucretius that grandly proclaims the reality of man's role in a universe without a god to help him along. |
| Literally, the title translates as '"On the Nature of Things"'/ The title is sometimes translated as "On the Nature of the Universe"' in order to reflect the scale of its subject matter. |
| CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Nature (1788 words) |
| Nature properly signifies that which is primitive and original, or, according to etymology, that which a thing is at birth, as opposed to that which is acquired or added from external sources. |
| Substance connotes the thing as requiring no support, but as being itself the necessary support of accidents; essence properly denotes the intrinsic constitutive elements by which a thing is what it is and is distinguished from every other; nature denotes the substance or essence considered as the source of activities. |
| Aristotle's primary matter, for instance, is of the same nature in all things, and today ether, or some other substance or energy is advocated by many as the common substratum of all material substances. |
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