Humanistic approach

From Geography

“And men go about to wonder at the height of mountains and the mighty waves of sea, and the wide sweep of rivers, and the circuit of the ocean, and the revolution of the stars, but themselves consider not” (Ley & Samuels, 1978, p. x) The humanistic approach is a way of thinking in human geography; an approach that seeks to put humans at the centre of geography (Gregory et al., 2009, p. 356). Humanistic geography is a root of action theoretic approach. Human conscience and reflection refers to human action as a change. This means that people are responsible for their own changes. An approach in human geography is distinguished by; - Human awareness - Human agency - Human consciousness - Human creativity An approach in human geography distinguished by the central and active role it gives to human awareness and human agency, human consciousness and creativity; at once an attempt at ‘understanding meaning’, value and human significance of life events’ (Buttimer, 1979).

Research isn’t always 100% representative, because researchers are human beings and are always subjected to their own perception. This makes reflection important, because you can provide a high level of objectivity.

References:

Aitken, S., Valentine, G. (2006). Approaches to Human Geography. Sage, London.

Buttimer, A. 1979: Reason, rationality and human creativity. Geografiska Annaler 61B: 43-9.

Ley, D. & Samuels, M. (1978). Humanistic geography: prospects and problems