Introduction:
The relationship between man and environment has been of increasing interest to geographers throughout its history. One can say that the idea of geography as the study of man-environment Relationship has a long history and has led to a long-standing debate about the position of man in relation to nature. Determinism and possibilism are the two mutually elite
philosophies in geography which are centered on a man and his place in nature. Both these doctrines try to place man within the ambit of the environment and deliberate on the issue whether a man should be looked upon as a ‘passive’ agent or an ‘active force’ while interacting with the environment. In this process, he not only adapts to the environment but also brings changes within it.
The deterministic point of view states that human activities are controlled by the environment (Lewthwaite, 1966). They propose that man is just a passive force in front of nature as nature determines man’s activities and in no way, man is free to control his life. Possibilism, on the other hand, argues that the relationship between man and nature is not so as human beings have
the capacity to choose between a range of possible responses to physical conditions.
2. Historical Background:
Since ancient times, determinism has been important notion defining the man-environment relationship. The idea was that man is a product of nature or physical environment moulds the human culture (Glacken, 1967). Most of the early scholars like Aristotle, Eratosthenes, Strabo, and Hippocrates were deterministic in their approach. For Example, Aristotle believed that the worlds climatic zones – frigid, temperate and torrid; determined habitability of man. In medieval time, France scholar Montesquieu in his work The Spirit of the Laws (1748) discusses how climatic conditions govern the degeneration and persistence of cultural traits. This philosophy even dominated the writings of Arab scholars especially Al- Masudi, Ibn-Battuta, and Ibn- Khaldun. In the early modern period, Kant vehemently supported determinism. Ritter, one of the founding fathers of Modern geography also had a tilt towards anthropocentric approach and advocated geographical determinism. Ratzel (1844-1904) also propagated new determinism where he emphasized that man holds a higher position than other organisms; still accepting that determinism is a dominant force in explaining the man-environment relationship. In the second volume of ‘Anthropogeographie’, he analyzes socio-economic activities and culture of man in relation to the physical environment. This concept at the later stage became an inspiration for Vidal de la Blache.
Apart from determinism, scientific concepts like deductive approach, Darwin’s theory of evolution, Newtonian cause and effect relationships in the latter half of the ninetieth century and
early twentieth century influenced a number of geographers in France. This led to the foundation of the modern school in France (France School of Geographical Thought) which had its roots in the philosophy of possibilism. Vidal de la Blache, Gallois, Brunhes, Demangeon, Emmanuel De Martonne, Blanchard, and all advocated the paradigm of possibilism. This philosophy is in direct contrast to determinism and puts a man in the first place that is a man and no longer the earth or climate influences man’s habitability. Thus, presents man as an active rather than the passive agent.
