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A work of outstanding originality and importance, which will become a cornerstone in the philosophy of geography, this book asks: What is human science? Is a truly human science of geography possible? What notions of spatiality adequately describe human spatial experience and behaviour? It sets out to answer these questions through a discussion of the nature of science in the human sciences, and, specifically, of the role of phenomenology in such inquiry. It criticises established understanding of phenomenology in these sciences, and demonstrates how they are integrally related to each other. The need for a reflective geography to accompany all empirical science is argued strongly. The discussion is organised into four parts: geography and traditional metaphysics; geography and phenomenology; phenomenology and the question of human science; and human science, worldhood and place. The author draws upon the works, of Husserl, Heidegger, Gadamer and Kockelmans in particular.
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Cambridge Human Geography PHENOMENOLOGY, SCIENCE AND GEOGRAPHY Cambridge Human Geography Edited by BRIAN ROBSON Professor of Geography, University of Manchester PETER HAGGETT Professor of Urban and Regional Geography, University of Bristol DEREK GREGORY Lecturer in Geography, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Sidney Sussex College Cambridge Human Geography will provide an important new framework for the publication both of the fresh ideas and initiatives often embodied in postgraduate work and of the more substantive research and wider reflective output of established scholars. Given the flux of debate within the social sciences as a whole, the series will seek to attract authors concerned to address general issues of the conflicting philosophies within and between the political science and 'liberal' approaches. Much of this interdisciplinary debate will be developed through specific studies: of production and economic restructuring; of the provision and management of public goods and services; of state investment and collective consumption; of human agency; and of the man-environment interface. The central aim of the series will be to publish quite simply the best of new scholarship within the field of human geography. PHENOMENOLOGY, SCIENCE AND GEOGRAPHY Spatiality and the human sciences JOHN PICKLES The right of the University of Cambridge to print and sell all manner of books Mas granted by Henry VIII in 1534. The University has printed and published continuously since 1584. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS London Cambridge New York New Rochelle Melbourne Sydney CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Delhi Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521109130 © Cambridge University Press 1985 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1985 This digitally printed version 2009 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 84-12164 ISBN 978-0-521-26540-9 hardback ISBN 978-0-521-10913-0 paperback Contents Treface Acknowledgements i Page ix xiv Introduction 1 Science and man 2 Science and phenomenology 3 The plan of this work 4 'Geographical phenomenology' 5 The disciplinary context i i 3 4 5 7 PART I GEOGRAPHY AND TRADITIONAL META-PHYSICS Geographical discourse and its central themes 15 6 Basic concepts