DETERMINISM IN GEOGRAPHY

The first approcah of geographical thinking on human – nature relationship is determinism. Environmentalism and Determinism have been used as synonyms with the simple definition that the natural environment is responsible for all human actions.Environmental determinists believe that ecological, climatic, and geographical factors alone are responsible for human cultures and individual decisions. Also, social conditions have virtually no impact on cultural development. Tracing its history, Greek and Roman scholars were the first to explain the physicalcharacteristics and character traits of different people and their culture.In the Greco-Roman era, regional studies were closely tied with the study of history. Aristotle explained the differences between Northern europe and Asian people  in the context of climate causes.He strongly advocated the progress of some countries is the result of their favaourable environmental conditions.

      In the middle ages, the Deterministic approach dominated the writings of Arab scholars,They devided the world into seven terrestrial zones on the basis of climate and highlited the physical and cultural characteristicslike Al-Baruni, Al-masudi, IbnHawkal, Al-Idrisi and Ibn Khaldum attempted to correlate the environment with human activitiesand living conditions within the conceptual domain of determinism.In the eighteenth century, George Tatham,a historian, emphasized the differences amongthe people, in relation to the differences between the countries in which they lived.

   In the 19th centuryCarl Ritter, a German geographer and his contemporary Alexander von Humboldt one of the founders of 'Modern Geography' also said that the life of the residents influence the physical conditions.The early decades of the 20th century, was dominated by the views of Darwin and the acceptance of Newton'scause and effect relations his original book The Origin of Species (1859) influenced many geographers. The influence of evolutionary biology on the development of modern geographic thought widely accepted. Stoddart (1966) argues that Darwin's biology played the crucial role in the human's place in nature, making possible the very development of geography as a science.At the end of the 20th century, in American geography, Friedrich Ratzel, founded the'new' determinism supplemented the 'classical'. Semple in her book influence of Geographical Environment (1911) writes Man is a product of the surface of the Earth, according to her in every problem of history there are two main factors, various stated that hereditory and environment.Taylor (1880-1963) was more cautious in relating to man and environment,he believed that environment has set the limitsof human development,which came to be known asNeo-determinism or Stop and Go Determinism.

      After World War  II, The philosophy of Determinism was vehemently criticized in the United States, UK,Canada and many other countries as an exaggerated approach of the active role of nature while interpreting human history. The determinists only considerhumans capable of being adapted but man's efforts reveal many facts which the forces ofthe environment cannot explain. The  do not only become socially dysfunctional butwas also subjected to an academic, theoretical critique.Peet (1985) states that the cultural geography of Blache and Sauer failed to establish a comprehensive theory within the discipline.

 The alternatives to determinism were less than satisfactory. Though there were potential replacements for determinism in the form of environmentalism possibilism, probabilism cultural ecology and chorology.Many people beliefs consistence with determinism continued to be as widely accepted.

  Ch. Krupa Balanandam.