I04 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 



to reduce greatly the study of certain fields of culture which were too 

 strongly emphasised even in the Middle Ages, but which still occupy 

 our young students to the exclusion of other far more important aspects 

 of culture. 



Our field, fellow geographers, can, I believe, be made the most interest- 

 ing in the realm of a general education. Partly because it deals with the 

 vital facts of our environment ; partly because it is so comprehensive ; 

 and partly because it is so objective. In these days of queer ideologies 

 and freedom from canons, it should be all the more valuable that we, 

 in our discipline, can chart our data and so make clear our problems, and 

 in a sense prove our conclusions. At Chicago, one of the three leading 

 universities in U.S.A., the whole of the various disciplines were grouped 

 into the four divisions of Physical Sciences, Biological Sciences, Social 

 Sciences, and Humanities. But there were a few liaison subjects which 

 were too widespread in their interests to fit into any rigid division. 

 Geography was one such subject, so that our large staff (and we had 

 four full professors) was given a place on the Boards of both the Physical 

 and Social Sciences. It is this feature of Geography which helps to give 

 it a special place in a general education. 



If we look back at the relation of education to these four divisions of 

 knowledge, we see a most interesting evolution. First of all, in the 

 fourteenth century, the protagonists of the new Humanism waged a bitter 

 fight against the Church and the Schoolmen. In the end the modernistic 

 views of the humanists won, and we call this epoch the Renaissance. Next 

 around 1600, the physical sciences were damned by the leaders of reaction, 

 only to emerge triumphant in their turn. Some eighty years ago the 

 biological sciences, in the persons of Darwin and Huxley, advanced truths 

 which were anathema to the orthodox. Few educated folk attempt to 

 oppose these truths now. But to-day the social sciences are challenged 

 by the forces of reaction. I will only instance the perverted use of 

 anthropology and sociology to advance the views of some of the totalitarian 

 nations. We geographers can do yeomen service, as I see it, to clarify 

 some of these issues if we teach tolerantly and scientifically what is 

 becoming known as Cultural Geography, 



I could talk for half an hour on the question of the field of geography 

 and yet not make my meaning so intelligible as the impression you will 

 gain from the study of Fig. i for a few minutes. The diagram suggests 

 that the field of geography (the large circle) contains eight subdivisions 

 which in turn are linked with eight major disciplines (Griffith Taylor 

 1937). Thus geography links the four ' environmental sciences ' of 

 Geology, Physics, Astronomy, Botany, with the four * human sciences ' 

 of History, Anthropology, Sociology and Economics. There are vast 

 uncharted areas on the borders of regional geography — the core of our 

 discipline — which merge into the eight subjects specified. Among pro- 

 fessional geographers the great majority will always carry on the vital work 

 in the central fields — but we may always hope for Raleighs, Drakes, 

 Hawkins, and Dampiers, who will explore far afield and extend our realms. 

 They will perchance trespass on other empires ; and doubtless some 

 conservative historians and anthropologists will call them buccaneers 

 or pirates. Dropping metaphor, I firmly believe that by applying 



