Determinism and possibilism in geography pdf

These geographers who propound this theory say that the civilisations of Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Indus-valley, disappeared because of the climatic changes. The core philosophy is that the supreme achievements of civilisation in any region were always bound up with a particular type of climate and variation in climate led to pulsations in the history and culture of the people.For example, tropical climates were said to cause laziness, relaxed attitudes and promiscuity, while the frequent variability in the weather of the middle latitudes led to more determined and driven work ethics. This philosophy says that aspects of physical geography, particularly climate, influenced the psychological mind-set of individuals, which in turn defined the behaviour and culture of the society that those individuals formed. As per determinism, the human actions can be explained as a response to the natural environment.According to Determinism, man is a passive agent, and nature is active agent, which controls and determines the action and decision-making processes of man.This implies that the history, culture, mode of life, and the level of development of the societal groups and countries are exclusively or largely controlled by the physical environment. It says that the strong forces of environment control the course of human action. This is an older philosophy which persisted till World War II.

Philosophy of Determinism is based upon the interaction between primitive human society and strong forces of nature.

Determinism and possibilism in geography pdf