290246 VO Basic Concepts and Paradigms in Geography (2008S)

This course aims at presenting the historical development of geographical basic concepts and paradigms. It starts with the classical concepts of landscape and regional geographies, whose "systems", understanding of the objects of research and basic terms will be scrutinised. These concepts serve as examples for explaining "paradigm" (in a post-KUHN version), a term employed by philosophy of science, and for introducing the relevant elements and aspects of scientific paradigms. We will continue discussing the most relevant paradigms of human geography up to the present, which includes examining the spatial concepts and models of explanation involved. Furthermore, we will study the basic principles of philosophy of science and epistemology supporting the particular paradigms. The last module focuses on strategies on dealing with the recent pluralism of paradigms in geography.