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What does the word “nature” ultimately refer to? History shows that its birth was shrouded in mystery and it has remained so, except to refer to a protean and “contradictory” reality. The concept is so ambiguous and lends itself so well to ideological drifts that some authors prefer to outright condemn it, only to replace it with the no less nebulous mythological figure of Gaia. At the other end, others extend its field of relevance to everything that exists, including humanity, and thus renounce the idea of an “ontological separation”: nature would cease to be the “great Other.” Albeit antagonistic, these two extreme positions nevertheless share a break with the modern conception that opposes nature and culture. Rather than choosing between one of these two options, the path suggested here involves taking up the old thesis of the duality of nature— natura naturans and natura naturata —in order to “go beyond” these different contradictions. This thesis will be developed in the second part of the article (E&P No. 58, 2019).