This course seeks to understand the connection between Nature and the divine in Philosophy. It is based on a diachronic approach and explores the topic from the Presocratic Philosophers, Chinese Taoism and late antique Neoplatonism up to German Romanticism. To what extent is Nature at the very heart of philosophical and religious thought ? Can we relate the concept of Physis in Heraclitus, Empedocles and Parmenides to that of Tao in Chinese Taoism ? Each session of the course will be devoted to a specific theme, such as Nature in Presocratic Philosophy, Nature in Taoism, Nature in Plato, Nature in late antique Neoplatonism, Nature in French Enlightenment and Nature in German Romanticism. It wishes to give the students an overview of the matter, with a pedagogy which enhances interaction between professor and students and encourages philosophical debate. To that effect, we will first introduce the topic of the session before studying major classical texts from the main authors of these philosophical traditions, with a specific focus on the relationship between religion and reason, mythology and philosophical inquiry. Recommended readings: Laozi’s Tao Te Ching, The Presocratic Philosophers ed. G.S. Kirk and J.E. Raven (1957), Plato: the Timaeus, Reading Plotinus: A Practical Introduction to Neoplatonism by K. Corrigan (2004), The Mystical Sources of German Romantic Philosophy by E. Benz (2009).