This volume deals with the medieval concept of nature under various aspects ( such as natural law and the foundation of ethics, the metaphysical and theological understanding of nature, final causality and explanation, nature as the object of science) and from different perspectives : Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, Thierry of Chartres and the philosophy of nature in the 12th century, Henry Bate and William of Ockham, Duns Scotus. This publication is the result of a research project patronized by Waseda University in Tokyo which confronted Japanese and Western views on nature. It was assumed that an intercultural dialogue on nature, which still is a central concept in modern thought, both ecological and ethical, is not possible without an historical understanding of the formation of this concept in medieval culture. The various contributions of Japanese and Western scholars offer the medieval precedents for such a dialogue.