Re-reading William D. Pattison’s Four Traditions of Geography: A Critical Assessment

Authors

  • Davide Papotti Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Enterprises, University of Parma, Parma, Italy

Abstract

A few years ago, in this same section, Teachings from the Past, we presented and commented on the address that John Kirtland Wright delivered on December 30, 1946, as the Presidential Address at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the American Geographical Society held in Columbus, Ohio. This time, we will comment on an essay that begins with a 1905 quotation from the first President of the Association, William Morris Davis. We continue, therefore, to reflect on the legacy of the American debate concerning the epistemological status of geography and its influence on the teaching of the discipline.

References

Barry N. Floyd, “Putting Geography in Its Place,” The Journal of Geography, Vol. 62, No. 3 (March, 1963). 117-120.

Fred K. Schaefer, “Exceptionalism in Geography: A Methodological Examination,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 43, No. 3 (September, 1953), 226-249.

James P. Latham, “Methodology for an Instrumented Geographic Analysis,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 53, No. 2 (June, 1963), 194-209.

Murphy A.B., “Geography’s Crosscutting Themes: Golden Anniversary Reflections on ‘The Four Traditions of Geography’”, Journal of Geography, 113, 5, 2014, pp. 181-188.

O.H.K. Spate, “Quantity and Quality in Geography,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 50, No. 4 (December, 1960), 379.

Pattison W.D., “The Four Traditions of Geography”, Journal of Geography, 63, 5, 1964, pp. 211-216.

Richard Hartshorne, The Nature of Geography, Association of American Geographers (1939), and idem, Perspective on the Nature of Geography, Association of American Geographers (1959).

Robinson J.L., “A New Look at the Four Traditions of Geography”, Journal of Geography, 75, 9, 1976, pp. 520-530.

William H. Wallace, “Freight Traffic Functions of Anglo-American Railroads,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 53, No. 3 (September, 1963), 312-331.

William Morris Davis, “An Inductive Study of the Content of Geography,” Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, Vol. 38, No. 1 (1906), 71.

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Published

2025-12-19

Issue

Vol. 2 (2025)

Section

Teachings from the past (ed. by Dino Gavinelli and Davide Papotti)

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