Laws, contingencies, irreversible divergence, and physical geography
JD Phillips - The Professional Geographer, 2004 - Taylor & Francis
JD Phillips
The Professional Geographer, 2004•Taylor & FrancisFour critical challenges for physical geography are examined here: deterioration of common
cores of knowledge associated with increasing intellectual niche specialization; the need for
conceptual thinking and problem-framing to catch up with measurement and analysis
technology; and the need to explicitly incorporate human decision making in analysis of
earth surface systems. The future calls for physical geography to embrace and confront the
creative tension between nomothetic and interpretive science, and to fruitfully and explicitly …
cores of knowledge associated with increasing intellectual niche specialization; the need for
conceptual thinking and problem-framing to catch up with measurement and analysis
technology; and the need to explicitly incorporate human decision making in analysis of
earth surface systems. The future calls for physical geography to embrace and confront the
creative tension between nomothetic and interpretive science, and to fruitfully and explicitly …
Abstract
Four critical challenges for physical geography are examined here: deterioration of common cores of knowledge associated with increasing intellectual niche specialization; the need for conceptual thinking and problem-framing to catch up with measurement and analysis technology; and the need to explicitly incorporate human decision making in analysis of earth surface systems. The future calls for physical geography to embrace and confront the creative tension between nomothetic and interpretive science, and to fruitfully and explicitly integrate these approaches.
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