Reading Response Form

Foundations of Geography (GEOG 200)

Kaldjian

Humanistic Geographies

Perception

This week’s chapter of Cresswell focuses on Humanistic Geographies. Humanistic

Geographies are derived from the concepts of Humanism, which is a philosophy in which

the human experience is valued higher over the objective experience, as seen in positivism.

Cresswell begins the chapter by talking about how some areas of geographical study have a

really hard time being studied objectively. He makes an example of choosing which Fish

and Chips spot the reader wants to go to, there are decisions to make, are you going to go to

spot A because of the cashier who sparks your fancy or are you going to go to spot B, which

is the best tasting place in town, there is also the spot C which is the cheapest and closest

place in town. On any given day the most rational idea would be to go to the spot that is

closest and cheapest and still get your fish and chips. But on that day you choose to go to

spot A where that attractive cashier works.

Here we can see that it is not always the most rational idea that takes center stage,

but the one that the heart wants the most is chosen on this day. This is the argument

behind Humanistic Geographies, that certain things cannot be measured in an entirely

quantitative way. There is a conscious awareness that humanity has, an awareness of the

existence of self, which limits the amount of objectivity that is possible within humanity.

Humanistic geographies are all studies of the more qualitative aspects of human

existence such as hopes, dreams, and emotions, that can be used and understood, to build

geographic knowledge. These qualitative aspects of the human environment then interact

Updated September 2023

with the earth, causing our sense of place. This entanglement of environment and human

perspectives builds that sense of place, which is an innately human experience.

Place and Experience

One of the main ideas in this week’s chapter of Cresswell is the idea of Objectivity

and Subjectivity. The beginnings of this chapter spend a good amount of time challenging

the ideas of an objective-based science as seen in the previous chapter of spatial science.

This led me to a train of thought about how humanistic geographies interact with the

spatial sciences of the quantitative revolution. I got to thinking about the implementation of

both philosophies in geography. I found it so bizarre that these two ideas were being

shown off as opposing arguments. Objectivity vs Subjectivity, Particularness of the

phenomena and the generality of the noumena. All of these ideas are approached as two

separate instances that clash, whereas the most effective knowledge growth comes from an

understanding of both. Where do these ideas mix?

Another thing that got me thinking was this idea of Place. This concept is what I

think does such a great job of combining the objective with the subjective. Think of it like

an abstract pizza. If the objective world is the crust, then the subjective experiences of that

world must then be the toppings. If this combination creates a pizza, then I believe place to

be a Michelin Star Deep Dish. Place takes the objective absolute location and mixes it with

the human experience to create an innately human world. Place is emotion, place is

everywhere that humans have given meaning to simply by existing within that space. When

I think of geography I think of place.

I also wanted to touch on the end of the chapter which talks about Graham Rowles

and the lifeworlds of the elderly. Specifically, in the part where we read about a segment
from Rowles’ book, at first when he realizes that Marie is focused on the geographies of her

past, instead of her geographies of the now, I found it to be rather disheartening. I believed

that meant she no longer cared for her here and now, but after writing this paper I realized

that there is a sense of beauty in it. She has found her place in this world and is comfortable

living in it. I find that to be rather wonderful.