Geography and general system theory,philosophical homologies and current practice

General system science, like geography, is an integrative discipline that spans the divide between the physical and social sciences. Geography, like general system science, seeks to examine the universe of observation as a functioning whole and attempts to study together the things other disciplines study separately. However, within both geography and the system sciences at large, there are many different philosophies and methodologies. A special attribute of the general system approach is an explicit adoption of an organismic rather than a mechanistic world view. This has caused general system practitioners to develop theory in more bioscientific areas of concern such as growth, hierarchical organisation and the theory of evolution. To date, much of the systems science in geography has preferred the static, mechanistic ethos of systems analysis and systems engineering. However, general system science's concern with historic processes and the dynamic self-determined relationships between systems structure, functioning and selfcreation may be more appropriate to geographical research. A search is made for general system methodologies in current geographical research and for particular applications of aspects of the new general systems theory of evolution and theory of systems attractors as defined by Ilya Prigogine and Erich Jantsch to geography.Today, we seem to be at the tip of an iceberg of scientific change... Every discipline is in the midst of a revolution... What is exciting about this theoretical chaos is not that each discipline will emerge with a new paradigm to guide future investigations but that a new grand paradigm may be forming, one that will integrate all structure and processes from the farthest reaches of the Universe to the reasonances of subatomic particles. The Grand Paradigm is somewhere in the future and we may live to see it THEISEN, (1981, p. 758).     

Geography and the pragmatic tradition: The threefold engagement

Geography has had only limited interchange with the American philosophical tradition of pragmatism. This paper claims that a closer engagement with pragmatism has much to offer to geography, not least in providing an arena within which very different types of geographical inquiry - qualitative and quantitative, human and physical - may find some common ground for useful conversation and debate. However, this will only be fully achieved if geography embarks on a threefold engagement with pragmatism: (1) studies that develop and deploy specific pragmatist ideas and concepts within particular geographical research; (2) studies that attempt to relate geographical research to the wider arena of the pragmatic tradition; (3) historical examination of early links between pragmatism, social science and geography. The history and contemporary revival of pragmatism is described, together with its impacts on social theory and social science. The existing literature on geographical engagement with pragmatism is then examined, and it is argued that there is a much broader relevance within both human and physical geography, not linked to particular styles of research. The question of the history of earlier influences of pragmatism on American geography is then raised, and some linkages charted. The philosopher Hilary Putnam has used the term ‘pragmatist enlightenment’ to describe what he sees as the promise of pragmatism, and the paper concludes by suggesting that this also promises an exciting and fruitful engagement for geography.     

地理学研究进展与前沿领域

现代地理学涵盖自然地理学、人文地理学和地理信息科学，其发展趋势是：相邻学科的交叉、渗透与融合，加强地理学内部的综合研究，地理过程的微观研究进一步深化，结合实践拓宽应用研究领域，实验与研究手段的现代化，理论思维模式的转变。地理学应在陆地表层过程与格局、全球环境变化及其区域响应、自然资源保障与生态环境建设、区域可持续发展及人地系统的机理与调控、地理信息科学和数字地球战略等前沿领域开拓创新，为促进地球系统科学的发展、协调人地关系等做出积极的贡献。     

Social theory and prospects in social geography

There is little doubt that a phenomenological approach in the Husserlian mould is valuable in curbing the excessive positivism and naivety that have characterised much of the social geography undertaken in Britain during the past twenty years. However, the operational value of phenomenology in social geography is more controversial. Ley's formulation of a phenomenologically based social geography focussing on the concept of place suffers from certain methodological and theoretical problems that stem, in part, from his adoption of Schutz's conceptualisation of the social world. A phenomenologically inspired but modified approach, involving the concepts of structuration and power and drawing heavily on the work of Giddens, is suggested as superior. This conceptualisation, which connects human action with structural explanation, permits a valuable reformulation of the geography of mental illness and may have similarly worthwhile applications in other areas of interest to social geographers.     

The limits of armed contestation: Power and domination in armed groups

Non-state war actors have only recently become a subject of study in political geography while other social sciences such as political anthropology, sociology and political science have addressed this subject in their respective conceptual language. This article, drawing on empirical research on war actors in 14 countries and using data on a sample of 80 such groups, advocates using the language of political sociology, and in particular that of Max Weber and Norbert Elias, to study this form of contestation. It presents some major findings of an empirical analysis built on these conceptualizations. Written from a political science perspective it tries to link up to the discourse in other social sciences, especially in political geography.     

Social geography — Welfare state ideology or critical social science?

The theme of the paper is the question of whether social geography has an ideological or a critical function in society. This question is approached from four different perspectives: (i) the history of ideas, (ii) the philosophy of science, (iii) the development of theory, and (iv) the view of practice.Having identified the two main directions of social geography as being a liberal (positivist) and a radical (marxist) approach, they are subjected to a brief epistemological examination.The development of theory of the liberal and marxist directions differ in three ways. These are the positioning of production vis-à-vis distribution, the conception of the relationship between the individual and society, and the understanding of space. The concept of relative space, making geography the science of space (chorology), is criticized. An alternative conceptualization of space, where space is not separated from and understood independent of the object under study, is formulated. Space is here considered as a property of the object (society), which totally integrates space and object.In the last section of the paper it is pointed out that the liberal approach represents either ‘counter-revolutionary’ or ‘status-quo’ theories, while the radical approach is ‘revolutionary’. The concept of space as the property of the object makes social geography more politically relevant, in that the actors in the political struggle became more precisely identified as groups in regional social structures.     

Geography and computational social science

The emergence of computational social science has had a transformative influence on the geographical sciences, integrating diverse themes of scholarship and allying it with the pursuit of grand challenges in the physical, natural, and life sciences. Geography has benefitted from many of these developments and has, in turn, catalyzed significant advances and innovation in computational social science. In this paper, I explore the relationship between geography, computing, and the social sciences by examining the evolution of some central themes in the computational social sciences: complexity, informatics, modeling and simulation, information visualization, cyberspace, socio-technical systems, and semantic computing.     

Epistemology and conceptions of people and nature in geography

The paper attempts to integrate two major issues of debate in geography which are conventionally discussed separately: epistemology and conceptions of the relationship between people and Nature. Whichever issue we start with, two concepts are essential: intersubjectivity and labour. Knowledge of natural objects is tied to labour, which both subjects ideas to a kind of test and changes our position within Nature. All knowledge depends upon intersubjective understanding between people, but this implies that in social science, and hence in human geography, the traditional subject-object relationship should be recast as a form of communication between ‘knowing-subjects’. These relationships are not limited to some separate sphere of epistemology but are constitutive of society in Nature itself. Labour, though traditionally overlooked in geography, is the most active and transformative process in changing Nature and society, and intersubjectivity is an essential element of the irreducibly social character of human life. In this attempt, the paper outlines and justifies a historical materialist perspective through critical engagement with positivist and humanist approaches. It is then argued that false conceptions of people and Nature in geography are grounded in the structure and selfunderstanding of our own society such that a critique of these ideas becomes a critique of our society.     

Geography in Australian education

Geography in Australia has a heritage that is strongly British, but more recently has been influenced from other parts of the world, such as North America and New Zealand. Its popularity has fluctuated and it is now under threat as a separate subject in the compulsory years of schooling. In higher education, geography has retrieved lost ground to be a popular area of study, but not a research area in the current national priorities. Geography plays a focal role in the general education of Australians. It is a medium for education involving the education of people, about, in, and for the society and environment in which they live. Through education, geography will enable people to explore their life-roles as learners, social beings, recreators, producers, consumers and citizens. It will develop in people distinctive knowledge, thinking processes, attitudes and values, and encourage participation in social and environmental actions. Teachers in secondary and higher education have differing and distinctive roles. Being a geographer in Australia does have benefits including: working in an identifiable area of knowledge maintaining a bridge across the physical and social sciences; the promotion of inquiry approaches and as a focus for the various adjectival educations that have emerged. These are tempered by challenges such as: threats from emerging disciplines, current national research priorities and the movement to social science education. Therefore, promotion of geography in Australia needs to be much more forceful than it has until now. The work of groups such as the Institute of Australian Geographers and the Australian Geography Teachers' Association needs to be co-ordinated more closely to develop a strong lobby for geography in Australian education.     

On Krugman's model of economic geography

This essay evaluates the evolution of Paul Krugman's ideas about economic geography between 1989 and 1996, focusing on the scope and intention of his work. While Krugman's geographical writings have acknowledged diverse research traditions, he has increasingly focused his efforts on formal spatial models that embody the methods of mainstream economic modeling. This emphasis reflects Krugman's view that formal modeling holds the most promise for understanding spatial aspects of urbanization. Krugman's interventions into economic geography have in turn allowed him to develop and articulate his own view of the future of social science: that is, the explanation of self-organizing behaviour should be the focal point of research, and formal modelling is the key means of advancing this agenda.     

农业生物地球化学———新兴的边缘学科

简述农业生物地球化学（生物地球化学的分支学科）的内涵,并提出建立可持续性发展的生物地球化学营养工程模式。该工程的实施对于发展21世纪的富素绿色有机农业、富素绿色有机食品提高人类健康水平和促进农业经济产业化具重要的现实意义并将产生深远的影响。     

‘Pour votre tranquillité’: Ambiance,atmosphere, and surveillance

This is a paper concerned with security, surveillance and notions of atmosphere and ambience. Whilst surveillance and security research has been excellent at examining socio-spatial relations drawn into the production and consumption of surveillance technologies, systems and practices, it has been far less well attuned to the material–affective relations, presences and absences it comes to constitute as the fabric of public space. Research within human geography and a broader ‘new materialism’ within the humanities and social sciences has become increasingly interested in exploring affective atmospheres, yet largely ignorant of a well established school of thought within French urban and social theory of ‘ambiance’. This paper explores the providence of considering atmospheres and ambiances for the examination of surveillance through the case study of two major railway stations in Britain and France. The paper proffers some methods and techniques for the further exploration of atmospheres/ambiances of security.     

On the role of Geography in Earth System Science

Geography is fundamentally a non-reductionist and holistic discipline. While we tend to focus on particular areas (Physical, Human, etc.), or we focus on specific successes (Quaternary studies for example) this paper argues that selling Geography though emphasizing these specific areas or strengths misses a major potential contribution our discipline can make. While most sciences have become reductionist over the last two centuries, they have recently discovered that the Earth is a “complex system” with “emergent” properties that cannot be explained through understanding the components parts individually. Many of these sciences are now contributing to a major effort called Earth System Science, an integrative super-discipline that accepts that biophysical sciences and social sciences are equally important in any attempts to understand the state, and future of the Earth System. This paper argues that the development of Earth System Sciences is a risk for Geography since it is, in effect, Geography with few Geographers. While representing a threat, the development of Earth System Science is also an opportunity. I argue that Geography could be a lead discipline among the other biophysical and social sciences that are now building Earth System Science to address key problems within the Earth System. While I am optimistic about the potential of Geography to take this leadership role, I am pessimistic about the likelihood that we will. I provide suggestions on how we might take on the leadership of Earth System Science including individual engagement and a refinement of tertiary training of some Geography students.     

遥感尺度问题研究进展

尺度是与空间现象有关的术语，在地学研究中更是一个重要的概念，忽视遥感观测的尺度效应，使得对地观测难以获得精确的地表参数，这一问题已经引起国际遥感界的重视，遥感物理建模和遥感数据应用都有尺度问题，像元尺度上地表参数的定量描述是建立遥感尺度转换模型和信息转换模型的基础，试图从尺度的定义，遥感尺度问题所涉及的内容和遥感尺度效应研究常用的技术方法等三个方面论述遥感尺度问题的研究进展，像元尺度上地表参数的定量描述是遥感信息尺度转换的基础。     

Better than text? Critical reflections on the practices of visceral methodologies in human geography

This co-authored intervention discusses themes on the thinking and doing of visceral research. 'Visceral' is taken here as that relating to, and emerging from, bodily, emotional and affective interactions with the material and discursive environment. There has recently been a distinct and necessary turn within the social sciences, particularly in human geography, towards the need for more viscerally-aware research practices. Building on such work, this collective intervention by leading visceral scholars offers two key contributions: first, it critically examines visceral geography approaches by considering their methodological contributions, and suggests improvements and future research pathways; and second, the authors extend recent visceral geography debates by examining how to conduct this type of research, providing reflections from their own experiences on the practicalities and challenges of implementing visceral methods. These observations are taken from a diverse range of research contexts - for example, from gender violence and community spaces, to the politics of 'good eating' in schools and social movements (e.g. Slow Food) - and involve a similarly diverse set of methods, including body-map storytelling, cooking and sharing meals, and using music to 'attune' researchers' bodies to nonhuman objects. In short, this collective intervention makes important and original contributions to the recent visceral turn in human geography, and offers critical insights for researchers across disciplines who are interested in conceptually and/or practically engaging with visceral methods.     

A sceptical approach to ‘the everyday’: Relating Stanley Cavell and Human Geography

Over the past few decades there has been a turn toward ‘the everyday’ in the social sciences and humanities. For some authors, this turn is about making the everyday a new repository of authority of some sort, political, social, cultural or otherwise. For others, however, any turn toward the everyday interrupts any such evaluation. Focusing upon Stanley Cavell and the philosophical lineage that he continues from Emerson, Nietzsche, Thoreau and Wittgenstein, this paper examines Cavell’s interest in the menace and power of scepticism as key to understanding the everyday as a lived experience. As an introduction to this particular part of Cavell’s work for many Geographers, the paper puts Cavell in relation to more familiar approaches to the everyday, including de Certeau, critical Human Geography, non-representational theory, affect theory, psychoanalysis and pragmatism.     

Transgressions of the man on the moon: climate change,Indigenous expertise,and the posthumanist ethics of place and space

Indigenous peoples have been enrolled in climate change research for decades, participating in data-gathering, as writing collaborators, and serving as the symbolic “canary in the coal mine” for public outreach and policy-making. They have indeed experienced some of the most rapid environmental changes, but rather than emphasize their vulnerabilities, we argue their expertise is narrowly understood in formulating knowledge; the research on climate change has a limited understanding of what it might mean to be inter- or trans-disciplinary because research is formulated exclusively through the assumptions of Enlightenment thought, without sufficiently engaging non-Western subjectivities. Qualitative social sciences and “Indigenous methodologies” can be used to better achieve trans-disciplinarity; in this article we re-tell a story told by Native elders from tribes across Alaska about the “man on the moon.” While literally referring to the US moon landing, elders invoke this story when addressing climate change: it teaches the ethics of the human-nature relationship, developed from a “more-than-human” (or “posthuman”) philosophy. Our data comes from participant-observation and oral history; we draw upon poststructuralist theory, and frame our analysis through the literatures of critical geography, science studies, and American Indian studies. To ensure that Indigenous peoples are not used as props in Western policy agendas, researchers must engage with non-Enlightenment intellectual traditions. More than being a source of data or a symbol of humanity’s ruin, Indigenous wisdom can productively inform sustainable policy agendas to adapt to climate change. What can be learned, for example, is a more-than-human ethics of place and space.     

一种基于反距离加权方法的层状三维地质界面拟合算法

三维空间中地质曲面模拟是矿产勘查、大比例尺成矿预测等地学领域的重要研究内容之一.与地球化学、地球物理数据的曲面拟合相比,地质界面拟合更加复杂且具有一般性.从功能需求角度出发,地质界面拟合需要处理层状地层、不整合地层以及存在构造的地层等多种情况;从算法实现角度讲,该拟合过程不同于物化探数据通过某一属性值进行曲面拟合的情况,因为在地质界面模拟过程中,不存在这样的特征值进行曲面拟合,因此不能直接使用物化探数据等值面提取的思想模拟地质接触界面.针对上述问题,提出了一种基于反距离加权法移动立方格算法的层状地层曲面拟合算法.该方法模型适合绝大多数层状地学三维曲面模拟.