Evolution of Geographical Thought in the Wake of Developments in Geography
The aim of this article is to describe the unique evolution of geographical thought at Quebec’s universities and to establish the unitary meaning of the new geographical thinking. First, we identify our research protocol. Second, we use geographers’ sense of unease in relation to their discipline before 1970 to stress the importance of mutations such as spatial analysis, and radical, humanistic, historical and feminist geographical currents. This marks an epistemological break between the two periods, anticipating the transition from empiricism to scientific methodology. After 1970, geographers assumed a constructivist stance as they now viewed geography as a formal object – namely, as a spatial organization of society. But, with the advent of the “new” geographical currents, the meaning of this object was altered to signify social interaction. In a nutshell, the changes that occurred between 1970 and 1985 were disciplinary turning points in geographical thought rather than epistemological breaks, as understood by Kuhn.