This article presents a survey of philosophical perspectives on the phenomena of ‘nature’ and ‘science/scientific’ in music and does so through a closer look at the first creative period of Péter Eötvös as a composer. Since the beginning of his creative career Eötvös has come into contact with issues scanning the relations between music and science, on the one hand, and music and nature, on the other. Considering Martin Heidegger's reflections on the nature of modern science as he articulated them in his Die Zeit des Weltbildes (1938), one can recognise in Eötvös' first creative period (in works like Kosmos, Elektrochronik, Intervalles-Intérieurs, Tale, etc.) not only the motivating, inspiring force of science, but also the limits of this incentive.