ABSTRACT
The epistemological vacuum is proving particularly frustrating in the area of social geography. The 1960s ended with a plethora of enthusiastic review papers optimistic that work would finally move beyond the details of morphology and descriptive spatial analysis to the understanding of prior and consequent social action. The illustration of the rank-size rule reveals reflexively the interplay of subjectivity, intersubjectivity, and several tiers of environing social contexts in the construction of a reality. The circumstances of Kierkegaard's biography, his temporal, spatial, societal, and intellectual context, including the structures he encountered, such as the lethargic state church and the superficial world of mass culture, provided the template for his thought and action. Metaphorically the direction is neither that of the formlessness of the surrealists nor the severity of Escher's perspectives. For Ralph Fasanella the city is animated and anthropocentric, as people loom larger than vehicles and the sides of buildings are stripped away to reveal their human content.
