POSSIBILISM INTRODUCTION Possibilism came into being as a reaction agai: i of this concept consider man as an active a: eae eae harp he supporters a number of options before man who uses them according ie has abil at a The number of options increases with the growth and development of human hilt Fe example, ‘gathering fruits' was the one and only option available to primitive pee With the invention of tools the option of ‘hunting' was available to him. Thus, they had os options. It indicates that the ways of life is not determined fully by environment but by man’s knowledge, skill and technical ability. The concept of possibilism, though appears to be a reaction against the absolute determinism, proposed by Ratzel, developed since ancient age. Possibilism gained popularity mainly after World War I. 9.1 PRINCIPLES OF POSSIBILISM Fellman et al. in 2007 clearly described the basic principles of possibilism. “People, not environments, are the dynamic forces of cultural development. The needs, traditions and level of technology of a culture affect how that culture assesses the possibilities of an area and shape what choices the culture makes regarding them. Each society uses natural resources in accordance with its circumstances. Changes in a group's technical abilities of objectives bring about changes in its perceptions of the usefulness of the land. Simply put, the impact of the environment appears inversely related to the level of development ofa culture, while perception of environmental opportunities increases directly with the growth in economic and cultural development”. 9.2 HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT OF POSSIBILISM 9.2.1 Pre-19th Century Era : Plato (428-348 BC) suggested that man constantly changes his environment. He said that soil erosion, degradation of the quality of land, change of landform etc. are the d his material culture. This philosophy passed Greec results of human activity an s Coa) into oblivion for many thousand years and was restored by Montesquieu (1689-1755), who believed in both determinism and possibilism; the latter ok being faintly hinted, failed to attract attention. He believed that both ‘physical and moral’ factors [ 183]Liery opment of Geographiea Thong act as an interactive whole and determir 's the developme: ee ; ‘clopment of a society or nation level of development guide society or nation to act freely in the en ir Ir it A hike 1992). Montesquieu said that man has the power of intellect and will « ithe : saul his environment or avoid it. He exerted a lasting, influence on the litical and s ules , on the political and social philosophy of France (Kriesel, 1968) Comte de Buffon, in the 18th century France, regarded man’s power of invent c ‘ ‘an’s power o! ion [france] as an important factor. He said that man has changed the surface of earth os + according to his own needs, and he works as a means of changing it. Man can manage to live in all kinds of climate and are not forced to accept nature as he finds her. He believed that “Man was not compelled to react to any climate the way uncivilized native people would react, with proper clothing he could protect his skin colour” To explain the ways how man can change the environment, he said that if trees of a vast tract fell or waterbodies are dried, climate of that place becomes warmer. So he was in favour of conservation of forests. This Montesquieu-Buffon philosophy could not gain popularity because of the presence of Darwin's theory which had a firm scientific base. Possibilism was also introduced by Kant of Germany although not so soundly. : Crypto-Possibilism The concept of possibilism, in the Pre-Vidal period, was called crypto-possibilism, being unclear, then. Determinism remained so powerful during this time that the supporters of possibilism could | not establish their idea by this time. Fig. 9.1 Comte de Buffon 9.2.2 Possibilism in the 19th Century : George Perkins Marsh (1864) studied the interrelationship between man and earth rasa uiace ftom a new perspective. He discussed in details the influence of USA | human activities on different organic and inorganic compositions of earth surface as a home of man. Alfred Kirchhoff (1838-1907), a German philosopher and a contemporary of George Perkins Marsh, had a thought contrary to Ratzel’s deterministic approach, He emphas zed of human geography and had the (camer the role of human beings in his study a conviction that the role of human culture is greater than that of environment in shaping human society. Paul Vidal de la Blache (1845-1918) made an important contribution to the concept of established on firm footing. According to pt to be 0 interrelated identities, they cannot be isolated, active, but their level of activities may vary at ties for human settlement, but the his own traditional way of living” possibilism, which enabled this conce| (him, man and nature are tw’ _Franee | and both the identities are times. He suggested, “Nature sets limits and offered pessibil way man reacts or adjusts to these given conditions depends on (james and Martin, 1981) He showed the exten! + of change of nature brought about by human beings on hishabitation and the extent of change is in kee gained popularity after the first great war direction. He was a confirmed supporter of hi of possibilism. He reinforced his view by proy termed ‘Genre-de vie’. By this term he ject Gaui a don generations, which may be termed ‘ ulture’. He ga ie that a natural environment always presents differ a indications of possibilities to different Societies ie the selection of them depends upon the races on | communities having different cultures OF ‘genre- i The second volume of Ratzel's Maas rate epee Paid | Presents views laying greater importance on culture, | Culture reflects pote ad In 1898, he showed that the nature of landuse on | “@™ede-vie may differ even af either bank of the Mid-Rhine river valley, comprising | Cm™MUnites inhabit in the same low height mountains, greatly differs because of twee ePhical gion different cultures, but the natural environment remai France in the foothills of the Vosge Mountain per niinry cone Tine Vidal opined that the fruits of civilization is reflected through ‘ways of living de-vie). As ways of living change from Place to place, so the characters of civilization, He suggested that the difference of civilization among the inhabitant. of the cant geographical region is caused by their difference of attitude towards life, difference of habits, value judgement, etc. (Febvre, 1932). Later this very concept was taken up by the supporters of possibilism as their main topic of discussion. The theory of possibilism was gaining wider acceptability towards the end of the nineteenth century —so much so that it sometimes made Darwin's theory weaker. 9.2.3 Possibilism in the 20th century : Vidal de la Blache’s influence was noticable even in the 20th century. After his death in 1921 the book “Principles of Human Geography”, published in 1926, declared nature to be an adviser only. Here Vidal showed that human beings grow crops according to their needs. The area of cultivation of a crop is shifted to different regions with different physical and climatic characters. Thus after some time, dominating producing areas of a crop may show difference in physical environment of that in the places where it originally grew. For example, maize is grown better and in much larger quantities in American Preire than in tropical plateaus; at present the production of wheat is much higher in places than those where it was first cultivated. Thus he was successful to prove the ability of a man or a society to overcome the ‘limitation of nature’. Society, with their wisdom, culture and practice is able to dominate so called “direct influence of nature’ os Lucien Febvre (1878-1956) strongly advocated for possibilism. It was he, w! ' a the term ‘Possibilism’ for the first time. He believed that nature offers some poss! are to inhabitants who utilize them to the extent to which it was possible by applying ae command over science and technology. Choices among the alternative opportuni ing, w ce PING with Material culture 7 techniques used by fumes | beings, his culture, habit, ee "ieand tradi em.” In surroundings following his habit, book “Geogr: 1 Introductior both in the French and English language, put forward Neo- Kantian Philosophy, which declines to accept human beings and nature as two different identities. He believed that nature to be all ‘objective world outside Fig. 9.2 Lucien Febvre observer's mind’. It means that in addition to all forms of living beings and inanimate objects there are human beings other than the observer himself that constitute environment Possibilities.” Although he Hed out nature's influences on man, themselves whatever they free himself from nature's influences on hi tion. He said that “the true and ation of possibilities. There never He opined : do of the hola , man can never fully im, can only modify his , Culture, taste, desire, etc. In his a nutshell, Neo-Kantian Philosophy Kantian philosophy was relieved in Germany towards the latter half of the nineteenth century. It is called Neo-Kantian philosophy which gained wide popularity among the French supporters of Possibilism. Kant considered man not merely an element of nature but the most important of among the elements bringing changes in | the earth's surface. Jean Brunhes was a disciple of Vidal. He publicised Possibilism in France and many other states. His book “Geographie Humaine: essai de Classification Positive” was brought out in 1910 and was translated into English in 1920 by 1. C. Le Comte and edited by Boman and Dodge. The whole field of human geography was illustrated here from three perspectives: (i) Discussion concerning the unproductive use of land, such as—roads, ports, habitations, etc (ii) Discussion concerning direct productive use, such as— farming and animal husbandry (iii) Discussion concerning destructive use perpetrated by human beings, such as— mining, hunting, etc. Brunhes gave greater importance on production, lifting, extraction action of man in changing natural landscape. He opined that “Nature is not mandatory but permissive”. Human options are strictly restricted by natural environment only on peripheral regions, such as—scorching or freezing deserts, where there are less developed culture. Nature takes dominating roles in those areas of low level of technology. Isaiah Bowman supported environmental determinism, "Eons F but later gave more importance to the role of human beings "8 7° !salah Bowman in changing natural environment. He explained the ideas of possibilism in his book “Geography in Relation to the Social Science.” There he showed that though the cultivation—_— —— == of maize and potatoes had been unknown in Europe before the time of Columns, changed European economy entirely afterwards, which is an indication to the fact hae pable of using nature for his own benefit according to his command over He had given illustrations from Canada, America, Australia and other states esearch paper entitled “The argument, in his r lished in 1931. Here he had worked to make the ideas of possibilism better established. (carl Ortwin Sauer aided in making this theory stronger by ae “School_of. Cultural Geography”. He said that man and nature interact to create different cultural landscapes according to s own culture. In ‘The Morphology of | Landscape,’ published in 1925 “Man is the latest agent in the fashioning of the landscape”. Derwent Whittlesey of America, a notable follower of Sauer, worked for the furtherence of the theory of “Landsca ”. He suggested that landscape of a region slowly undergoes changes as a result of human habitation founded in phases. There is slight change of the character of land as to the height, inclination, unevenness and the like, but dramatic changes of other features are noticed with the cultural change of communities. zs of the landscape changes, under The phenomenon the influences of different cultures are termed ‘Sequent Occupance’. Whittlesey had illustrated different types of changes of land brought about by different cultures in similar geographical is an example to the point, as a regions. America i radical change from Indian culture to European culture took place here in most part of the country. The theory of possibilism is also supported by HLH. Barrows (1877-1960), through his concept of Human Ecology. He opined that human beings in his attempt to adjust with nature. Human ecology is the society and nature through the principles of ecology. He Jationship in geography should be studied “from man’s than the reverse” (Barrows, 1923). “Geography is “Human Ecology” (Hartshorne, man is Ca] technology. in support of his Pioneer Fringe”, pul hi he says : Fig 9.4 Carl O’ Sauer play more important role study of relationship between (Barrows) recommends that rel adjustment to environment, rather therefore exclusively human geography, or as Barrows stated it 1939). d to divide earth on the basis of different human HJ. Fleure (1877-1969) trie characteristics instead of divisions and racial characters he divided earth into seven regions, suc of hunger, industrialized region, etc. British geographer Marton I, Newbigin supported both regional geography and possibilism. She also prefered divisions based on human qualities to divisions depending upon natural features. based on natural features. Based on different culture has—region of effort, regionI! 190 ] But Gramsci, bel: Development of Geographical Thought SSS cing 1 the Regulations Sehaot of Political Economy, in 1971 ) chowed how afl societies living in developed nomolile company decided | countries, are transformed to consumer societies ct workers by manetold iy the Post World War IT period with division mpition that H world lead of labour, application of technology, increased increment Hintility and pireductivate. of igher wowkere Theremsed income, in retatn, | wages etc. through mads production anc hi higher demands and teplenieh | rate of growth. Gramsci lebels it as Fordism, snoop was widely accepted | Thyag economy appears to be the determinant of = gher growth tate was human behaviour, societal relations etc. leading to the emergence of a yimer society DLN. Anuchin applied | 9.3.5 Neo-Determinism : theory in Geography Griffith Taylor, a famous Australian apher, put forward the concept of neo-determinism in the decade of 1940s. He nized absolute possibilism to suggest that there are only few places with a lot of ibilities, Such places are limited mainly in temperate regions where there are a wide of options for human beings. But the major part of the earth surface measuring }0th, does not offer too many options. Taylor believed that ” the well endowed parts of the offer many possibilities for making a living, but in the other nine-tenth of the earth's land nature speaks out clearly ~ this land is too dry or too cold, or too wet or too rugged” (quoted & Martin, 1981). For example, he cited the case of Australia and said that some of Australia are either very hot or cold or dry or humid. Extreme climate is found A disaster must follow, if man works against such hostilities. Taylor believed that “Ran cannot work against all odds for a prolonged period; no long-term developmental ‘plan is free from natural influences. in a book published on Australia in 1948, he declared, "Main economic activities of a land are heavily influenced by nature. Geographer's study is to analyse all the physical characters of a country and accordingly to suggest for suitable economic activities. Man can slow down and speed up the pace of development but cannot change the direction of movement and cannot divert away from the directives of nature.” ‘Stodant explained Taylor's view of Neo-determinism as “The best economic programme for 4 country to follow has in large part been determined by nature (environment) and it is the geegrapher's duty to interpret this programme. Man is able to accelerate, slow or stop the progress A @ country or region's development. But he should not, if he is wise, depart from directions as indicated by the natural enviroument. He (man) is like the traffic controller in a large city who alters the cate but not the direction of progress” ~Stodart, 1990 To strike @ balance between determinism and possiblism he says that nature offers some way outs which are more in number in temperate zones and few in other regions. Serie bot he supports determin, Man is free to select options. Here possibilism oe people in arctic region is taken for instance, we find that nature Scopes of hunting and gathering, If they reject this offer and try to produce crops, they will certainly fail. If they accept the scope of hunting, they will try to buildPossibilism [191 | better boats and tools for hunting which will enable them to live better. Traffic controller cannot determine the direction of any vehicle. Similarly, man cannot freely pick up his most suitable ways of living. A traffic controller can slow down or accelerate vehicle by using coloured signals, similarly, man can make his development quicker by choosing the most suitable option presented by nature, or may slow down it by his foolishness. Taylor called this concept as ‘stop and go’ determinism. A traffic controller's mode of work is ‘stop and go’. Likewise, man can magnify natural forces by using technology but cannot free himself from. them.) 9.3.6 Probabilism : According to this philosophy, human activities are not overwhelmingly determined by nature. “ Physical environment does not uniquely determine. human action, it does nevertheless make some responses more likely than others” —Spate 1957. This moderate view lies between two extremes of Ratzel’s concept and Febvre’s concept. It considers, human activities are determined by both physical and internal conditions, such as— temperature, rainfal, calamity, soil quality, topography, availability of resources, human history, knowledge, technology, behaviour, habits, attitudes, etc. Some conditions, such as— plains, hills, fertility, availability of water, etc. influence human life more than all other. Our practical experience and knowledge support this view. 9.4 RELEVANCE OF POSSIBILISM ped as an antithesis of dominant philosophy of Although, possibilism develo, lived environmental determinism, it was initially introduced in 64 B.C. by Strabo who bel that “We humans, by our own capacity and intelligence, can change things in our favour”. Until Vidal de la Blache, this concept grew as the binary opposition to the established paradigm of determinism. Vidal established the idea of “life style (genre-de-vie) that is distinctive to particular people living in a particular place (Cloke et al. 1991). Main principle of possibilism is to establish that “environment does not dictate what people would become, but rather that the environment refers the opportunities for people what they choose to be, People adopt to the different conditions the earth has to offer at different places and that is how different living conditions and habitat arise" (Tatham, 1951). Agriculture is no longer controlled by natural environment. Man tried to alter quality of land, soil and water by shaping, mannuring and irrigation respectively. Even with high level of technology, they construct green houses for altering temperature condition. Industrial and service sector are not directly dominated by physical environment. Thus human occupations are not dictated by nature. Human settlement pattern in urban areas are not guided by natural environment. Man fills water bodies and depressions, cut the slope, alter the entire landscape for building township. Number of bulldodgers and levelling machineries help man to escape from the control of nature. Man uses irrigation, electricity respectively to change water supply and temperature and removes darkness of night with electric lamps. He interrupts and modifies entirefeeee, os i t overall i enti in always tries to sel 1 processes through technological intervention, Man ere in tops and on - nature, Only on the desert, both cold and al a Lof technology is not so high, - - i ion and leve! ; : ore density of populatio Lceaaehaami a other marginal areas where cent of plain an again be illustrated aaa int of view. They adjust and adopt according to their nature controls part of the : through cultural (genre-de-vie) point of _ series culture, practice and tradition, not by the dictate of nature. — Febvre (2000) commented that “because of the fact that men eternal anion ile geographical agent on the earth, we should put man in the Hi nies an 8 ‘the influence of climate, nor the determinant conditions of localities". aerec: Being guided by this way of thinking and in order to attempt for al — processes, man damaged natural system—leading to environmental degradation, atmospheric pollution that are blamed for global climatic change. So, itis established that the nature no longer determine human occupation and activities but human activities set strong control on nature. 9.5 CRITICISM OF POSSIBILISM 7 (i) A good number of critics call it a negative attitude for its faliure to establish itself as an alternative to determinism. (ii) As it has no firm scientific basis, it works against the line of accepting geography as a branch of science. (ii) L Gerasimov, a Russian geographer, declared possibilism to be nothing more than a different name given to determinism. (iv) Bowman, a confirmed advocate of possibilism, at an advanced age admitted .... “all men everywhere are affected to some degree by physical conditions.” (v) Possibilism discourages the study of nature. On the other hand, it encourages the thought that man can do all thin gs he intends to do by using technology. This kind of thoughts disturb natural balance, degrades environment which eventually affects man, in turn. (vi) O.HLK. Spate in 1957, gave the theory of probabilism. nature to be the supreme determinant of all human activities, while possibilists think that a series of possibilities are Presented by nature and man selects some according to his own needs, According to Spate, nature is neither all permissive, nor all compulsive, but rather a balancing force. He believed that “ Human action was represented as not so much a mother of all-or-nothing choice or compulsion, but a balance a Natural aid and human endeavour are given equal importance by 9.6 DICHOTOMY BETWEEN DETERMINISM AND Pi In geography, different views related to the inter are found to have existed from the ancient times, Si some are parallel to each other. Views criticising Extreme determinists think OSSIBILISM rel ‘lationship between man and nature ome of them are critical of others, while each other are known to be dichotomy.Table 9.1 Dichotomy between | Jelerminism and Poss Det 7 os Seer et | __ Possibitism rinciples Nature controls and dominates over Nature offers opportuniti id life style, activities, occupation, cul Portunities and man ‘seeial i » occupation, culture, | selects best among them according to : ial ang economic development | his need, technology, tradition, belief oF a society and physical as well as | and culture, ce chological structure of human being. eae of | Nature acts as determinant of human | Nature is considered to be the adviser, ature activities and development of societies, | man is free to select among these F 1 advices. Role of Man _ | Man is considered to be passive and is | Man is considered to be active in controlled by nature. selecting the possibilities offered by | nature. Time In post-Darwinism phase up to 1930s, | In the first decades of 20th century determinism developed as a well- | possibilism became popular. established Paradigm. School of German and American School of | French School of Geography led by Geographers |Geography contributed mainly for | Vidal de la Blache contributed for development of determinism. possibilism (School of Possibilism). Scientific Determinism has a firm scientific base | Scholars are doubtful on the scientific Basis supported by Darwinism. base of possibilism Paradigm Determinismis the first distinct paradigm | Possibilism is an antithesis of that dominates geographical thought | Determinism. It could not establish since Darwinian concept of ‘selection of | as an alternative to determinism and species’ up to 2nd World War. so could not replace determinism entirely. | Study of Determinism guides the thinkers and | The idea of dominance of technology Environment | researcher in a way to make them|and entire conversion and control sensitive and respectful towards | over nature degrades environment environment that helps in conservation | and in turn, affects human society. of nature. 3 9.7 CONCLUSION tions. This theory, having been founded on ty of Geooranhical Thoueht * 13 Laeecs See articular philosophy researchers for a long time. Ina paradigm stage, most by certain view or views as to carry on studies or researches unidimensional developn "Deterministic philosophy is the first and foremost attempt to generalise m becomes so popular or well rooted it of a subject. nan-nature a sound scientific basis, remained ot gy___— initiated the first paradigm phase j,, beyond all doubts until the World iter a powerful from the later hai.) geography. Possibilism began to grow itself as an alternative to determinism for wary the 18th century. But it failed to ona ae on human beings and human influence pe ofa seta a ore though Batis extremely difficult to precisely determine the —" a ee acta begins to dominate natural forces. In fact, natu: re and human Feces ate tos eve separ eins Hal great interdependents. Neither man cannot einen e luding human beings seems rational), be delinked from nature, nor study of nature excl ing a i A place where there is human habitation one cannot find absolute virgin landscape free from human intervention, The opposite of it, i.e. human beings absolutely free from natural influences seems absurd. Absolute deterministic concepts retard the progress of civilization, as they do not give importance to human activities. Similarly, absolute Possibilism ignores nature and encourages the thought that anything is possible through technology again which is not the reality. It is against nature and against the progress of civilization in an indirect way. So the concept of neo-determinism came into being to Sive just importance to man and nature. Table 9.2 : Development of Possibilism a [ Age Concept Philosophers/Geographers Country Prior to 19th Century | Crypto- Plato a Possibilism. i Montesquieu France Comte de Buffon France Immanuel Kant Germany 19th Century Dominance of | George Perkins Marsh Americal man over nature Alfred Kirchhoff Germany Paul Vidal de la Blache Fi (School of Possibilism and Genre-de-vie) a tury Possibilism. Paul Vidal de la Blache (Principles of | France | Human Geography-1926) Lucien Febvre Franc (Geographical introduction toHistory-1922,| Neo-Kantian Philosophy) i Jean Brunhes (Geograph; ine: essai de classification Poston creas 2 | France Isaiah Bowman Am | (Geography in wai ee ae Relation to Social i Cultural Carl O' Sauer Landscape (School af rene ‘ ad