Human and Nature - Seyyid Hüseyin Nasr (Book Review)

Recently, I was watching a conversation with İbrahim KALIN. During the conversation, İbrahim KALIN recommended several books, one of which was Man and Nature by Seyyid Hüseyin NASR. Curious, I began reading it, but I truly struggled. Unfortunately, the philosophical language used in Türkiye is built around obscurity. Still, that is a subject for another essay. The book is a seminal work in its field—in fact, it is the written transcript of five lectures delivered by the author. The book examines the intellectual foundations of the ruthless destruction of nature in the modern world and presents the author’s proposed solutions for its restoration.

The author essentially argues that the problem lies in the Western teachings that currently dominate the world—teachings that have severed the connection between nature and the spiritual. A West that is not at peace with the spiritual order cannot be at peace with the order of nature. NASR offers a striking analogy: “The modern human does not see nature as an equal—something from which one benefits yet to which one also owes responsibility—but rather

Recently, I was watching an interview with İbrahim KALIN. During the conversation, KALIN recommended several books, one of which was Man and Nature by Seyyid Hüseyin NASR. Curious, I began reading it—but I truly struggled. Unfortunately, the language of philosophy used in Türkiye is built around obscurity. Still, that is a topic for another essay. The book is a seminal work in its field. (In fact, it is the written record of five lectures delivered by the author.) The book examines the intellectual causes behind the ruthless destruction of nature in the modern world and presents the author’s proposed solutions for its restoration.

The author essentially argues that the problem lies in the Western worldview’s severance of the bond between nature and the spiritual. A West that is not at peace with the spiritual order cannot be at peace with the order of nature. NASR offers a striking analogy: “The modern human does not see nature as an equal—something from which one benefits yet to which one also owes responsibility—but as a prostitute. A prostitute who evokes no sense of obligation or duty toward oneself… (p.19)”

Indeed, in ancient Greece, there was a connection between nature and spiritual forces. At the very least, they believed nature possessed a soul. However, Christianity was reduced to a toy in the hands of priests and other religious merchants. It was distorted. The link between Christianity and spirituality was gradually severed. Naturally, this had a negative impact on the relationship between human beings and nature. Especially during the Renaissance, scientists began to focus not on the content and meaning of nature, but only on its form and external appearance (p.80). In the words of Bediüzzaman, they abandoned the essence (mağza) of these transient creations and concerned themselves only with their husk (kışır).

For Renaissance science, nature became an anonymous “it,” devoid of any ontological dimension (p.86). The conception of nature as devoid of any emotional or spiritual dimension, following the Rousseau-Voltaire line, spread from philosophers to the public and permeated the collective consciousness. For the West, things no longer possessed any “truth”—only “utility.” Human beings themselves transformed into mere monsters whose sole purpose was to exploit and consume the world’s blessings (p.87). By the end of the 18th century, the West’s ultimate, singular, and definitive goal became a world stripped of spirituality. Countless phenomena in the world began to compel humans toward endless actions. As a result, people had no time left for contemplation, reflection, or meditation (p.88). For them, the “Sublime Being” became merely a source of comfort or a subject of mockery. Spiritual and religious interpretations of natural and cosmic order were no longer considered science. Such interpretations were relegated to the margins as sentimentality or superstition. Even scientists came to regard refusing to ask questions about the origin of existence as a prerequisite of science itself (p.27).

In the 9th century, certain Christian theologians described nature as “massa perditionis” (the damned) (p.65). Some Protestant theologians, such as K. Barth and E. Brunner, viewed nature as a kind of punishment, supposedly in the name of religion. According to them, nature could teach humanity nothing about God. Nature was like a veil between God and humanity. For them, nature was a meaningless, artificial backdrop to modern human life (p.44). Ultimately, the West, which perceives nature as a soulless object arising by chance, self-generated, or reducible to mere cause-and-effect relationships, has severed the bond between nature and spirituality. The West’s unbelief has turned Western civilization into a pitifully feeble beast.