Deterministic solutions are available to all problems and the determinists asserted the influence of environmental forces upon such things as hair colour, strength, fertility, temperament
and religion.
"...Men that inhabit woodland are usually polytheistic, while monotheism is a product of the desert." (Kirchoff)
Environmental determinism fell from favour as it was realised that the overall system of the physical environment is far too complex to be explained by deterministic approaches. As a scientific approach, it was too simplistic, whilst not necessarily being reliable due to its generality. Additionally, in the twentieth century, determinism came to be discredited by many as it could be used to explain racial variations, which could also be linked to Nazism.
The nineteenth century also saw the rise of a modified alternative to determinism, called possibilism. This is the more complex view that the physical environment is a series of systems which offer man a choice of possibilities of which he can take advantage. This paradigm of study is associated with the French school of geography, specifically Paul Vidal de la Blache (1845-1918) and Lucien Febvre (1878-1956).
Possibilism recognises the importance of the influence of the physical environment (although it is not dominant) whilst also accounting for man's freedom of choice, thus aiming to explain spatial variations within a fixed environment.
"There are no necessities, but everywhere possibilities; and man, as master of the possibilities, is the judge of their
use." (L.Febvre).
In this way, the development of an area is directly related to the people concerned.
Within possibilism, man and his influences are the dominant forces rather than environmental factors, although these too are recognised. Human activity is seen as being a modifying agent to the earths features. In addition, possibilism encompasses cultural, historical, and economic influences, giving a more
rounded approach.
Possibilism has also been influential in the rise of the school of cultural geography associated with the name of Carl Ortwin Sauer and the University of California at Berkeley, and with development of the idea of human ecology. The founder of
this latter notion was H.H.Barrows (1877-1960), of the University of Chicago, who stressed the importance of the type of relationship between human and physical factors, and especially wanted to study the physical elements only when these were relevant to human activity. This approach was an ecological viewpoint to the relationship between people and their environment and applies normal ecological models to people.
The fourth and final approach developed before 1945 was one concerning landscape change. This approach tried to monitor how people alter landscapes through time to suit themselves. This adjustment is slow and progressive.
In modern day geography, determinism and possibilism no longer hold their former importance. Technological advances and increased research now allow man to alter his own environment to suit him. Since 1945, a newer, wider diversity of approaches have appeared. This major change was due to large criticism of environmental determinism as it dealt with the 'region'. This 'region' is no longer as important as an area of study as its scale is too small. Today more issues are on a global scale.
These four main approaches had merits of their own in their time, although now they have become outdated and today more ideas have been developed.
The main environmental approach of today is probabilism. This has resulted from simple determinism. It suggests a probable outcome given a set of facts, ie. what will probably happen. For example, given an increase in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, sea level will probably rise. There is always uncertainty in this approach but it's seen as being a more sophisticated idea.
Probabilism has been the main approach in the study of the relationships between people and their environment, during the second half of the twentieth century. However, there are others, such as the development of human ecology, landscape development, resources and management and resources and hazards. All of these approaches are important in their own fields and are more relevant to todays environment.
To conclude, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,
many different approaches have been developed to enable us to understand relationships between people and their environment. However, no one approach could encompass the many different issues that arise, and as time continues, modernisation leads to the necessity to rethink and redevelop old, outdated approaches.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
B.Goodall...The Facts on File Dictionary of Human Geography
Facts on File (1987)
P.Monkhouse...A Dictionary of Geography
Arnold (1970)
I.G.Simmons...Changing the Face of the Earth
Blackwell (1989)
L.D.Stamp...Applied Geography
Penguin (1960)
G.Taylor...Geography in the Twentieth Century
Methuen (1951)
