The Philosophy of Geography

244 Pages·2021·3.921 MB·English

by  Timothy Tambassi, Marcello Tanca

Springer Geography
Timothy Tambassi
Marcello Tanca   Editors
The Philosophy
of Geography
Springer Geography
AdvisoryEditors
MitjaBrilly,FacultyofCivilandGeodeticEngineering,UniversityofLjubljana,
Ljubljana,Slovenia
RichardA.Davis,DepartmentofGeology,SchoolofGeosciences,University
ofSouthFlorida,Tampa,FL,USA
NancyHoalst-Pullen,DepartmentofGeographyandAnthropology,Kennesaw
StateUniversity,Kennesaw,GA,USA
MichaelLeitner,DepartmentofGeographyandAnthropology,LouisianaState
University,BatonRouge,LA,USA
MarkW.Patterson,DepartmentofGeographyandAnthropology,KennesawState
University,Kennesaw,GA,USA
MártonVeress,DepartmentofPhysicalGeography,UniversityofWestHungary,
Szombathely,Hungary
TheSpringerGeographyseriesseekstopublishabroadportfolioofscientificbooks,
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The series includes peer-reviewed monographs, edited volumes, textbooks, and
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Planning,UrbanGeography,PhysicalGeographyandEnvironmentalGeography.
SpringerGeography—nowindexedinScopus
Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttp://www.springer.com/series/10180
·
Timothy Tambassi Marcello Tanca
Editors
The Philosophy
of Geography
Editors
TimothyTambassi MarcelloTanca
DepartmentofScienceofCulturalHeritage DepartmentofLiterature,Languages
UniversityofSalerno andCulturalHeritage
Fisciano,Italy UniversityofCagliari
Cagliari,Italy
ISSN2194-315X ISSN2194-3168 (electronic)
SpringerGeography
ISBN978-3-030-77154-6 ISBN978-3-030-77155-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77155-3
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Preface
Stringfiguresarelikestories;
theyproposeandenactpatterns
forparticipantstoinhabit,somehow,
onavulnerableandwoundedEarth.
DonnaHaraway,StayingwiththeTrouble:
MakingKinintheChthulucene
Getting a complete overview of the possible connections between geography and
philosophy is, no doubt, an extremely ambitious task. For this reason, instead of
providinganexhaustivesurvey,weshallratherfocusonsomespecificcontactpoints
betweenthetwodisciplinesandthenprovidefourwaysforphilosophyandgeography
tocommunicate:
1. geographyinphilosophy,
2. philosophyingeography,
3. geographyof philosophy,
4. philosophyof geography.
Dealingwiththefirsttwoconnectionsmeanstothinkintermsofinclusion.More
precisely, what is at the stake in the in-relations is the capacity of each of the two
disciplinestoopenitsdoorstoexamples,theories,andexperiencescomingfromthe
other discipline. In this way, we can have, on the one hand, geographical notions
populatingphilosophicaldebatesand,ontheotherhand,philosophicalnotionsinfil-
tratinggeographicaldebates.Geographyof philosophyisinsteadcenteredonthose
placesand/orgeographicalcontextswithinwhichphilosophicaltheorieshavebeen
developedandphilosophershavemovedandworked—suchasKönigsbergforKant,
LondonforMarx,BerlinforBenjamin,andsoforth.Finally,philosophyof geog-
raphyreferstothedebateonthenatureofgeographicalknowledgeandrealityanda
debatethatincludes,amongothers,ontological,epistemological,social,andcultural
groundingsofgeographyasadiscipline.Moreover,philosophyofgeographydoes
not exclude the possibility of mutual connections among different sub-branches
v
vi Preface
of philosophy (ontology, history of philosophy, aesthetics, epistemology, political
philosophy,andsoon)andofgeography(suchashuman,physical,regional,cultural
geography,andsoforth).Theoutcomeisapluralityofsub-disciplinesconstituting
the domain of philosophy of geography, like the phenomenology of human geog-
raphy,theepistemologyofphysicalgeography, theontologyofclassicgeography,
andsoon.
Outliningsuchin/of connectionsdoesnotmeantodenythattherecanbefurther
ways to conceive the relations between philosophy and geography. Much work is
still to be done as Augustin Berque emphasizes in the introduction of Ecoumène:
introductionàl’étudedesmilieuxhumains,whileacknowledgingtheexistenceofan
“immensevoid”betweenthetwodisciplines.Inthewakeoftheneedfornewresearch
developments,thisvolumecollectsseveralcontributionsaimedatpresentingsome
transversalquestions,therichnessofwhichhaspromptedustoorganizethematerial
intothreelargesections.
The first part of the book, Philosophy and Geography, explores the connec-
tions between philosophy and geography in terms of parallel histories and mutual
exchanges (Marcello Tanca), Ludwig Feuerbach’s philosophy of nature (Adriana
Veríssimo Serrão), the interaction of philosophy, social theory of space (Jacques
Lévy),andcomputerscience(TimothyTambassi).
Thesecondpart,Space,Place,andTerritory,includesreflectionsonthespatial
dimensionoftheselfinCharlesTaylor,MichelFoucault,andHannahArendt(Michel
Lussault),theDaoistapproachtospace,place,andhumans(HongJiang),theaffective
experienceofspace(Jean-MarcBesse),andtheontologyofterritorialityintheBaoulé
philosophicalnarrative(AngeloTurco).
Then,thethirdpartaddressessomeOpenQuestionsconcerningfakenewsabout
geography(BarneyWarf),theconceptofcommunityanditsemancipatoryaswellas
repressiveimplications(ClaudioMinca,RichardCarter-WhiteandPaoloGiaccaria),
the‘animalquestion’(AnnalisaColombinoandPaoloGiaccaria),andthevalueof
‘hybridnature’forAnthropocene(GianfrancoPellegrino).
SomewherebetweenCagliari TimothyTambassi
andSalerno,Italy MarcelloTanca
February2021
Acknowledgements Amongthepeoplewhowoulddeservetobementioned,wewishtoexpress
ourthankstoallthecontributorsfortheircooperationandtoRobertDoeandRajanMuthufortheir
assistance.
Contents
PartI PhilosophyandGeography
1 History of Geography and History of Philosophy.
Convergences,Affinities,andLoans ............................. 3
MarcelloTanca
2 ConvertingtheEarthintoaDwellingPlace ...................... 35
AdrianaVeríssimoSerrão
3 Transmutations. Novel Encounters Between Philosophy
andSocialTheoryofSpace ..................................... 51
JacquesLévy
4 Applied Ontology of Geography. Mapping
theInterdisciplinary(Un-)Connections .......................... 61
TimothyTambassi
PartII Space,Place,andTerritory
5 SpatialityFirst ................................................ 81
MichelLussault
6 SpaceandPlace:ADaoistPerspective ........................... 95
HongJiang
7 Geographicity.OntheAffectiveDimensionsofGeographical
Experience ................................................... 117
Jean-MarcBesse
8 Being Human in a Godsend World. The Ontology
ofTerritorialityintheBaouléPhilosophicalNarrative(Ivory
Coast) ........................................................ 129
AngeloTurco
vii
viii Contents
PartIII OpenQuestions
9 Post-truthGeographiesintheAgeofFakeNews ................. 151
BarneyWarf
10 GeographyandtheComingCommunity ........................ 167
ClaudioMinca,RichardCarter-White,andPaoloGiaccaria
11 ThePosthumanImperative:FromtheQuestionoftheAnimal
totheQuestionsoftheAnimals ................................. 191
AnnalisaColombinoandPaoloGiaccaria
12 TheTracesofNature;or:TheValueofHybridNature ............ 211
GianfrancoPellegrino
Index ............................................................. 241
Part I
Philosophy and Geography