Can idealism make sense in contemporary physical geography? A stimulus to the debate

Abstract

This article analyzes whether the adoption of an ontological idealist and pluralist approach to ground physical geography makes sense in contemporary times. It notes that idealism starts from the fundamental intuition of consciousness but can be grounded equally in philosophical terms. It also verifies that idealism does not necessarily imply solipsism, recognizing an intersubjective reality, external to individual consciousness, but still mental. It verifies that in this reality the ideas (information) that constitute the nature addressed by the positive sciences are present. Most of these ideas (information) and their relationships can be described by mathematical formulas and different models, as they are presented in a standardized way. It is argued that since all reality possesses only the primitive mental substance, physical geography is not susceptible of separation from human geography because of ontologically different objects of study. Under an ontological idealist and pluralist paradigm, physical geography can receive elements such as free will and creativity as causal factors in the physiology and morphology of landscapes; human geography and cultural dynamics are no longer seen as anomalies in the face of naturalism. The unification between both branches of geography can occur at the theoretical level without losing the benefits of the determinist approach in the apprehension of ideas (information) that are standardized in nature and without promoting a reductionism in relation to the participation of free will and creativity in the dynamics of landscapes. This idealism also represents an alternative to some theoretical limitations of the Theory of Complexity, but they can dialogue.