Discuss Hartshorne_Schaefer Debate?
Answers
Answer:
Explanation:
The Hartshorne-Schaefer Debate
Introduction: The debate on the methodology of pursuing Geographical studies that
ensured between the two geographers F K Schaefer and Richard Hartshorne is one of
the most stimulating and academic exchanges the subject of geography has witnessed.
This debate began with F K Schaefer’s paper titled “Exceptionalism in Geography: A
Methodological Examination” published in the Annals of the Association of
American Geographers in September 1953. Schaefer’s articles were published
posthumously, and the debate continues as Richard Hartshorne published his
comment (caveat) in the same journal in 1954, followed by an elaborate article titled
“Exceptionalism in Geography Re-examined” published in the same journal in
September 1955. Richard Hartshorne also published another article in the same
journal in June 1958 titled “The Concept of Geography as a Science of Space, from
Kant and Humboldt to Hettner.” Drawing from the research articles mentioned above
the debate on the methodological position of Geography that arose in the academic
circles of the United States in the 1950s may be charted out.
II. Exceptionalism in Geography: In the early Nineteen fifties, the geographers in the
United States were influenced by the regional paradigm as the chosen methodological
frame for pursuing geographical research. The most celebrated proponent of the
Regional paradigm was Richard Hartshorne also from the United States and
Hartshorne’s seminal monograph named “The Nature of Geography” which appeared
in the Annals and later was published in the form of a monograph by the Association
of American Geographers. Though Hartshorne’s paradigm of regional geography was
well received, there arose disillusionment and discontent in accepting regional
paradigm as the most accepted way of doing geography among certain sections of
geographers in the United States.
F K Schaefer was a trained as an economist and later pursued Geography. Schaefer
was associated with the Department of Geography at the University of Iowa and he
had migrated to the United States to escape the Nazi persecution that was taking place
in the then Germany.
F K Schaefer took it upon himself to clarify the position of Geography within the
broad arrangement of various schemes of knowledge systems; the sciences and the
social sciences. His motive was to refute the pre-eminence given to Regional
Paradigm of Geography as the only mode of conducting geographical research a