Jean-Bernard Racine

Which way is North? Directions for human geography

Abstract Geography: a discipline without epistemology, theories and axioms. Knowledge of the concrete does not come at the beginning but at the end of the analysis and is only possible with the aid of concepts. Must we admit of only one method: the scientific method? Methodology is a hard taskmaster. New geographers quantify in search for a greater objectivity, which still depends on the variables initially chosen. Geographys object of study is conditioned by the problems space creates for people and which people create for space. At the interface between space and society, Bayesian analysis allows the understanding of the events by using all available information. We deduce geographys object of study from the encounter between the axioms of social sciences and the question posed by geography to reality.