Geography as Human Ecology

Abstract

[T]he contest between geographers and their adversaries is identical with the old controversy between historical and physical methods. One party claims that the ideal aim of science ought to be the discovery of general laws; the other maintains that it is the investigation of phenomena themselves.... While physical science arises from the logical and aesthetic demands of the human mind, cosmography has its source in the personal feelings of man towards the world, towards the phe nomena surrounding him. We may call this an "affective" impulse in contrast to the aesthetic impulse. Goethe expressed this idea with admirable clearness: "It seems to me that every phenomenon, every fact, itself is the really interesting object. Whoever explains it, or connects it with other events, usually only amuses himself or makes sport of it, as, for instance, the naturalist or historian. But a single action or event is interesting, not because it is explainable, but because it is true." -F. Boas, 1887