HUMANISM AND MARXIST THEORY IN GEOGRAPHY        1823W

HUMANISM AND MARXIST THEORY IN GEOGRAPHY; HOW IT DIFFERS FROM POSITIVISM.

Philosophical ways of knowing cannot be avoided when research is being conducted in geography. Philosophy is used as a way communication between what we know and how we know it. It helps put into context and justify answers regarding research questions; therefore it is used widely throughout geography (Aitken and Valentine, 2006). Up until the 1950s, geography was in actual fact detailed in nature, as it examined patterns and processes, usually on a regional bias, when trying to understand specific places (Aitken and valentine, 2006). However after the 1950s, numerous geographers such as Schaefer started “to argue that geographical research needed to become more scientific in nature” (Schaefer, 1953).

It was then that Comte (1798-1857) formed the theory of positivism (Kitchin and Tate, 2013). Unwin (1992) noted that Comte used the “term ‘positive’ to refer to the actual, the certain, the exact, the useful and the relative rather than the imaginary, the undecided, the imprecise, the vain and the absolute” (Unwin, 1992). In Comte’s positivism he stated that the formulation of theories should be experimented by and proven using certain methods that provide “society with knowledge so that speculation could be avoided” (Kitchin and Tate, 2013).

In Geography, positivism was implemented so that the principles of science could be applied to geographic understanding (Aitken and Valentine, 2006). “The positivist approach requires experience to be verified rather than just simply presented as fact” (Johnston, 1986a) and there are