Johnston traced the debates within human geography since 1945 over philosophical and methodological issues. In the present book, the aim is the complementary one of giving an introduction to the foundation of those discussions, assuming no prior knowledge of philosophy.

This accessible and engaging text explores the relationship between philosophy, science and physical geography. It addresses an imbalance that exists in opinion, teaching and to a lesser extent research, between a philosophically enriched human geography and a perceived philosophically empty physical geography. The text challenges the myth that there is a single self-evident scientific method that can, and is, applied in a straightforward manner by physical geographers. It demonstrates the variety of alternative philosophical perspectives and emphasizes the difference that the real world geographical context and the geographer make to the study of environmental phenomenon. This includes a consideration of the dynamic relationship between human and physical geography. Finally, the text demonstrates the relevance of philosophy for both an understanding of published material and for the design and implementation of studies in physical geography. This edition has been fully updated with two new chapters on field studies and modelling, as well as greater discussion of ethical issues and forms of explanation. The book explores key themes such as reconstructing environmental change, species interactions and fluvial geomorphology, and is complimented throughout with case studies to illustrate concepts.

This ism-busting text is an enormously accessible account of the key philosophical and theoretical ideas that have informed geographical research. It makes abstract ideas explicit and clearly connects it with real practices of geographical research and knowledge. Written with flair and passion, A Student′s Introduction to Geographical Thought: Explains the key ideas: scientific realism, anti-realism and idealism / positivism / critical rationalism / Marxism and critical realism/ social constructionism and feminism / phenomenology and post-phenomenology / postmodernism and post-structuralism / complexity / moral philosophy. Uses examples that address both physical geography and human geography. Use a familiar and real-world example - ‘the beach’ - as an entry point to basic questions of philosophy, returning to this to illustrate and to explain the links between philosophy, theory, and methodology. All chapters end with summaries and sources of further reading, a glossary explaining key terms, exercises with commentaries, and web resources of key articles from the journals Progress in Human Geography and Progress in Physical Geography. A Student′s Introduction to Geographical Thought is a completely accessible student A-Z of theory and practice for both human and physical geography.

In any edited volume most credit is due to the individual authors. The present case is no exception and we as editors have done little apart from serving as coordinators for a group of friends and colleagues. For once, the responsi bilities are shared. We feel that the collection gives a fair representation of the activities at the frontier of human geography in North America. Whether these premonitions will be further substantiated is of course to be seen. In the meantime, we take refuge in Vico's saying that "doctrines must take their beginning from that of the matter of which they treat". And yet we also know that new treatments never lead to fmal ends, but rather to new doctrines and to new beginnings. It is also a pleasure to acknowledge those publishers and authors who have given permission to reprint copyrighted materials: Association of American Geographers for Leslie J. King's 'Alternatives to a Positive Economic Geography', Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 66,1976; Edward Arnold (Publishers) Ltd. for Yi-Fu Tuan's 'Space and Place: Human istic Perspective', in Christopher Board et al. (eds. ), Progress in Geography, Vol. 6, 1974; Economic Geography for David Harvey's 'Population, Resources, and the Ideology of Science' ,Economic Geography, Vol. SO, 1974; Institute of British Geographers for David Ley's 'Social Geography and the Taken-for-Granted World', Transactions of the Institute of British Geogra phers, Vol. 2, 1977; and North-Holland Publishing Company for Allen J.

The relationship between geography and philosophy is still largely in need of being explored. Geographers and philosophers share the responsibility for that. On the one hand, geographers have considered as a dangerous deviation any attempt to elaborate an image of the Earth which was not a mere replica of a cartographic representation. On the other hand, philosophers have generally been uninterested in a discipline offering little chance for critical reflection. In light of these considerations, the purpose of this book is to identify some fundamental philosophical issues involved in the reflection of geography by adopting a perspective which looks at the discipline with a specific focus on its fundamental concepts and distinctions.

Approaches to Human Geography is the essential student primer on theory and practice in human geography. It is a systematic review of the key ideas and debates informing post-war geography, explaining how those ideas work in practice. In three sections, the text provides: · A comprehensive contexualising essay: Introducing Philosophies, People and Practices · Philosophies: written by the principal proponents, easily comprehensible accounts of: Positivistic Geographies; Humanism; Feminist Geographies; Marxism; Structuration Theory; Behavioral Geography; Realism; Post Structuralist Theories; Actor-Network Theory; and Post Colonialism · People: prominent geographers explain events that formed their ways of knowing; the section offers situated accounts of theory and practice by, for example: David Ley; Linda McDowell; and David Harvey · Practices: applied accounts of Quantification, Evidence and Positivism; Geographic Information Systems; Humanism; Geography, Political Activism, and Marxism; the Production of Feminist Geographies; Poststructuralist Theory; Environmental Inquiry in a Postcolonial World; Contested Geographies · Student Exercises and Glossary Avoiding jargon - while attentive to the rigor and complexity of the ideas that underlie geographic knowledge – the text is written for students who have not met philosophical or theoretical approaches before. This is a beginning guide to geographic research and practice. Comprehensive and accessible, it will be the core text for courses on Approaches to Human Geography; Philosophy and Geography; and the History of Geography; and a key resource for students beginning research projects.

Places are today subject to contrary tendencies. They lose some functions, which may scale up to fewer more centralized places, or down to numerous more dispersed places, and they gain other functions, which are scaling up and down from other places. This prompts premature prophecies of the abolition of space and the obsolescence of place. At the same time, a growing literature testifies to the persistence of place as an incorrigible aspect of human experience, identity, and morality. Place is a common ground for thought and action, a community of experienced particulars that avoids solipsism and universalism. It draws us into the philosophy of the ordinary, into familiarity as a form of knowledge, into the wisdom of proximity. Each of these essays offers a philosophy of place, and reminds us that such philosophies ultimately decide how we make, use, and understand places, whether as accidents, instruments, or fields of care.

Judaism is a religion and a way of life that combines beliefs as well as practical commandments and traditions, encompassing all spheres of life. Some of the numerous precepts emerge directly from the Torah (the Law of Moses). Others are commanded by Oral Law, rulings of illustrious Jewish legal scholars throughout the generations, and rabbinic responsa composed over hundreds of years and still being written today. Like other religions, Judaism has also developed unique symbols that have become virtually exclusive to it, such as the Star of David and the menorah. This book argues that Judaism impacts human geography in significant ways: it shapes the environment and space of its believers, thus creating a unique “Jewish geography.”

For almost forty years, German enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant gave lectures on geography, more than almost any other subject. Kant believed that geography and anthropology together provided knowledge of the world, an empirical ground for his thought. Above all, he thought that knowledge of the world was indispensable to the development of an informed cosmopolitan citizenry that would be self-ruling. While these lectures have received very little attention compared to his work on other subjects, they are an indispensable source of material and insight for understanding his work, specifically his thinking and contributions to anthropology, race theory, space and time, history, the environment and the emergence of a mature public. This indispensable volume brings together world-renowned scholars of geography, philosophy and related disciplines to offer a broad discussion of the importance of Kant's work on this topic for contemporary philosophical and geographical work.

"There is a growing unease among geographers with the notion of geography as spatial analysis but, as yet, no book has appeared which is able to assimilate and develop the profound methodological developments and changes in philosophy which have occurred since the sixties. Ideology, Science and Human Geography re-examines the nature of geography after the positivist revolution and provides a critique of the discipline from the perspective of the social sciences in general. For Gregory, the new geography's commitment to the paradigms of natural science was simply a reaffirmation of the Victorian tradition of geography. The ideological consequences of this are discussed in relation to recent changes in the social sciences to argue that a scientific geography must provide explanations which are at once structural, reflexive and committed. In questioning many of the assumptions of quantitative methodology the book seeks, above all, to reinstate man into the study of geography." -- Publisher's description