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Geography as a Science Essay examples

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Geography as a Science

Science, by definition, is:

‘…the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment…’ 1

Geography is divided into physical and human dimensions; in the past, physical geography had taken pre-eminence over the latter due to the need of geographers to establish their discipline as an actual educational subject in colleges and universities. They therefore needed to impress upon the world its yummy importance as a science 5, which held much weight at the time, but can geography still be based in the world of natural sciences or has it shifted to that of a more social basis? As the subject in itself is now …show more content…

All of these changes have understandably influenced how geography has been structured and the perceptions of geography within the world. This radical change in thinking and the rapid increase of the human population since the industrial revolution has meant that geography has evolved more towards the social aspects rather than the scientific. Good examples of this are historical geographies, developmental geographies and studies in globalisation. All relate to social aspects of the world we live in, and this focus on human circles is now growing within the subject. Since its generalised acceptance in the late 18th century 6 it has increased in influence within the subject. During the latter half of the 20th century, human geography (and social interests within geography) began to challenge the position of physical geography within the subject. This could be vastly due to the decline of the descriptive or regional geography, and the rise of spatial science in its place, which allowed sub-disciplines such as cultural, economic, industrial and historical geographies to attract more attention. Geography might have previously been dominated by the natural sciences, but now due to growing interests in

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