Background: Why did the Radical Approach emerge? Imagine you are in the 1970s. In the world of geography, everyone is obsessed with making it look like a “hard science” — like Physics or Chemistry.This was the era of the Quantitative Revolution and Positivism.Geographers were busy crunching numbers, building models, and talking about “location,” “distance,” and…
After understanding Idealism (mind creates reality) and Realism (reality is independent of mind), now we move to a philosophy that stands somewhere in between — practical, experience-driven, and solution-oriented:This is Pragmatism. What is Pragmatism? 🎯 Core Idea:Meaning and knowledge are constructed through experience. In simple words: Real-world analogy:Suppose you’re designing a bridge.Idealists might debate “what…
Before we dive into these philosophies, understand one thing:In Human Geography, how we view “reality” shapes how we study human actions and interpret the world.Different philosophical paradigms offer different answers to a basic question:“Is reality something outside of us or something within our minds?” Today, we’ll cover two major views: Idealism 🎯 Core Idea:Reality is…
Let us start with a very basic yet important point: “What is science and what is knowledge?”Even among philosophers, there is no consensus about this. Different thinkers have interpreted science differently. Broadly, two major schools have emerged regarding this understanding: Today, our focus is on Positivism. What is Positivism? Positivism is not just a random…
Imagine you’re trying to understand why something exists at a particular place—for instance, why a city grew near a river, or why industries developed around Mumbai. That curiosity is the essence of locational analysis. Locational Analysis is a method in Human Geography that focuses on how and why various human phenomena (like population, industry, transport,…
Imagine you’re looking at a map—not just to locate places, but to understand the deeper patterns in how those places are arranged and how they affect human life. That, in essence, is Spatial Analysis. Spatial analysis refers to the quantitative techniques used to study location patterns—how and why different features like cities, industries, or resources…
To understand this, let’s start with a question: Why don’t we have universal laws in geography like we do in physics or chemistry? That’s the crux of Exceptionalism—a view that geography (and history) are fundamentally different from the so-called systematic sciences like physics or chemistry. This idea was first proposed by Immanuel Kant, the father…
In any subject, whether it’s physics, psychology, or geography, there exists a dominant way of thinking at a particular time—a framework that shapes how problems are identified, how research is done, and what kinds of answers are considered acceptable. This dominant intellectual framework is called a Paradigm. So, a paradigm is like the lens through…
(Regression, Correlation and Gravity Model) Correlation (Let’s build from basics.) 👉 First imagine:You notice that wherever rainfall is high, crop yield is also high.You start wondering — Is there a relationship? This “relationship” between two variables is studied using Correlation. 📖 Definition: Correlation is a statistical technique that measures the strength and direction of the…
Imagine geography before the 1950s like a detailed travel diary—descriptive, poetic, rich in imagery, but lacking in numbers. Then came a shift—a movement where geographers started using mathematics and statistics to understand patterns, relationships, and processes. This transformation is called the Quantitative Revolution (QR) in geography.It means: Applying statistical and mathematical techniques—like formulas, models, and…
