ABSTRACT
Oneofthemostsalientcharacteristicsofgeographicalpracticeinthe la~ttwentyyearsisthatgeographershaveincreasinglyacceptedthe inherentdiversityofthedisciplineandhaveingeneralceasedtryingto identifyasinglecoretothediscipline.Rarelyareargumentstoday promulgatedtosuggestthatthecentralaimofgeographicalenquiryis, forexample,tocreateaspatialscience,orthatsystemsanalysisformsa unifyingmethodologyforthediscipline.Some,moreover,haveargued that'thereisnoneedforgeographyandtheotherpresentlyconstituted fragmentsofsocialscience,sincetheymustberejected'(EliotHurst, 1985:60).Inparticular,thisperiodhasbeencharacterizedbyan increasingdivisionbetweenthehumanandphysicalsidesofthe discipline.Stoddart(1987a:330)haseloquentlydescribedthissituation asfollows:
Theresultisclearenough.Acrossgeographywespeakseparate languages,doverydifferentthings.Manyhaveabandonedthe possibilityofcommunicatingwithcolleaguesworkingnotonlyinthe sametitulardisciplinebutalsointhesamedepartment.Thehuman geographersthinktheirphysicalcolleaguesphilosophicallynaive;the physicalgeographersthinkthehumangeographerslackinginrigour. Geography-Forster's,Humboldt's,Mackinder's-isabandonedand forgotten.Andinevitablyweteachourstudentslikewise.Small wonderthattheworldatlargewonderswhatweareabout.
