Geography and Science

Contents: Preface. 1. Geography and science the methodological setting. 2. Scientific explanation the model of natural science. 3. Problems of explanation in the social sciences and history. 4. Explanation in geography some general problems. 5. Theories. 6. Hypotheses and laws. 7. Laws and theories in geography. 8. Models. 9. Models in geography. 10. Theories laws and models in geographic explanation a concluding statement. 11. Cause and effect models. 12. Temporal modes of explanation in geography. 13. Functional explanation. 14. Systems. 15. Explanation in geography a concluding comment. Index.

"The relationship between geography and other academic disciplines has never been easy to define. Geographers frequently form disparate allegiances. Some regard themselves as being in the natural science tradition some involve themselves more in the work of the social sciences while others associate with the humanities and in particular with history. Different national groups tend to develop rather different traditions in this respect. The French have traditionally maintained close contact with history the British with geology and so on. Within the various national schools of geography there are major differences. Thus in American geography the Berkeley school under the inspiration of Carl Sauer 1963 look to the anthropologist the quantifiers look to behavioural science or to mathematics while the geomorphologies took not unnaturally to geology and physics for support in their quest for explanation. At times geographers have appeared to reject any allegiance and have sought refuge entirely within the boundaries of their own discipline. At other times they have taken an extraordinary broad view and come to regard themselves as the synthesizers of all systematic knowledge in terms of space. Any methodological work therefore should take account of these influences and attempt to measure their impact and significance." (jacket)