Is physical geography a social science? Definition of Physical Geography

It is not a social science: it is a science that takes social phenomena as the object of study. Its mission is to study and elaborate various social phenomena and the laws of their development.

Disciplines covered by social sciences: political science, economics, management, law, sociology, psychology, education, ethics, literature, aesthetics, art, logic, linguistics, history, military science, anthropology, archaeology, folklore, journalism, communication, and other social sciences. According to the characteristics of the study, it is divided into:

There are two sub-disciplines, comprehensive and sectoral.

1. Comprehensive sub-disciplines 1. Comprehensive physical geography: a discipline that studies the comprehensive characteristics of the physical geographical environment as a whole. 2. Regional Physical Geography:

The study of the interrelationship between the physical geographical elements of a particular region and the characteristics, structure and development of the physical geographical environment.

First of all, geography can be divided into physical geography and human geography, physical geography mainly studies natural elements such as climate, topography, ocean currents, etc.;

Human geography is based on the study of physical geography, focusing on the combination of natural environment and human environment, and emphasizing adaptation to local conditions.

The social sciences and geography do not have much to do with each other, and may also take into account the impact of the natural environment on human beings, and some knowledge points may intersect with human geography, but physical geography is not a social science.

No, physical geography is a natural science.

Physical geography is a discipline that studies the composition, structure, spatial differentiation characteristics, formation, development and change of the physical geographical environment, as well as the relationship between man and the environment.

Related Notes:

Mankind's knowledge of geography originated in ancient times. However, the term physical geography was first used in the 17th century and became popular in the second half of the 18th century. Physical geography, as a discipline in geography, appeared in the formative period of modern geography.

The development of physical geography can be roughly divided into three stages: the period of knowledge accumulation, the modern period, and the modern period.

Before the middle of the 19th century, geography was mainly based on the descriptive recording of geographical knowledge, and physical geography knowledge, as an important aspect of geography, was mainly to understand the natural phenomena on the earth's surface, record the situation of mountains and rivers, travel and explore the wonders of the four directions, and carry out exploration and discovery activities.

As early as more than 3,000 BC, the ancient Egyptians began to observe changes in the water level of the Nile. In the 5th century B.C., Herodotus of ancient Greece described the dynamics of the Nile's summer floods in his Histories (also known as the History of the Greco-Persian Wars) and pointed out that the estuarine delta was formed by the accumulation of sediment brought by the river.

Definition of technical terms.

Chinese name: Physical Geography.

English Name: Physical Geography Definition: A discipline that studies the various elements of the physical geographical environment and their interrelationships, and clarifies the structure, function, material migration, energy conversion, dynamic evolution and regional differentiation of the natural geographical environment.

Applied Disciplines: Geography (first-level discipline); Physical Geography (Secondary Discipline).

Physical geography is a discipline that studies the composition, structure, function, dynamics and spatial differentiation of the physical geographical environment, and is an important sub-discipline of geography. Comprehensive sub-sciences include integrated physical geography, regional physical geography, paleogeography, etc. Sectoral sub-sciences include geomorphology, climatology, hydrology, biogeography, glaciology, etc.

Physical geography in the narrow sense only refers to comprehensive physical geography, and departmental physical geography has gradually developed into an independent discipline. Physical geography in the narrow sense refers only to comprehensive physical geography.

1. Different research methods

field trips or satellite data, etc.

Human Geography. Questionnaire method and interview method are commonly used in human geography.

and so on, to do social surveys and qualitative analysis.

2. The focus of disciplines is different

Physical Geography: Physical geography pays more attention to the physical geographical environment, including physical geographical elements and distribution, and natural phenomena.

Regularity and evolution, etc.

Human Geography: Human geography pays more attention to the people in the environment, people's behavioral characteristics, regional economic development, regional transportation, industrial distribution, etc.

3. The conclusions are different

Physical Geography: The conclusions in physical geography are highly certain, and they often need to be explained by the teacher, in the words of the teacher, which is called "having a head".

Human Geography: The conclusions in human geography are not very certain, and many of the conclusions do not need to be explained by teachers, but need to be perceived and experienced by students.

1. The research objects are different.

The object of natural science research is the universe, including the laws of the universe, the laws of nature, and how to apply these laws, such as physics, chemistry, engineering, and materials science. The object of social science research is human behavior, such as psychology, education, organizational management, economics, etc.

2. The research tasks are different.

The task of social science is to study and expound various social phenomena and their development laws, while the task of natural science is to help human beings understand the laws of nature and open up the way for human beings to correctly transform nature.

3. The performance is different.

4. The fields of implication are different.

The disciplines covered by the social sciences include: economics, political science, law, ethics, history, sociology, psychology, education, management, anthropology, folklore, journalism, communication, etc.

The fields of natural sciences include physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, and earth sciences.

Natural and Social Sciences Materials:

Both natural sciences and social sciences are objective sciences that study the laws of the world. Different from the universality of natural science, social science has differences under different specific conditions, which need to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis.

The natural sciences encompass many fields of study, and the natural sciences usually attempt to explain that the world operates according to natural processes, rather than through supernatural means, and is actually based on reverence for the universe and nature itself. The term natural sciences is also used to position "science" as a discipline that adheres to the scientific method. Natural science is a general term for the study of inorganic nature and organic nature, including the biological properties of human beings.

The object of its knowledge is the whole of nature, that is, the various types, states, properties and forms of motion of substances in nature. The task of its understanding is to reveal the essence of the phenomena and processes that occur in nature, and then to grasp the regularity of these phenomena and processes, and to foresee new phenomena and processes, so as to open up all possible ways for the rational and purposeful use of the laws of nature in social practice.

Social science is the science of the nature of social things and their laws. Social science is a scientific study of human social phenomena. For example, sociology studies human society (mainly contemporary), political science studies politics, policy and related activities, and economics studies resource allocation.

In a broad sense, "social science" is a collective term for the humanities and social sciences, including the humanities.

In the course of the development of modern science, the new scientific and technological revolution has provided new methods and means for the study of social sciences, and the trend of social sciences and natural sciences penetrating and interconnecting with each other has become increasingly strong.

The difference between human geography and natural geography: physical geography is partial to theory, such as the solar system, the rotation of the earth, climate, geology, etc., and human geography includes those economic development, industrial structure, etc., which are based on physical geography.

1. Different concepts: Physical geography is a discipline that studies the composition, structure, function, dynamics and spatial differentiation of the natural geographical environment. Human geography is a discipline of geographical distribution, diffusion and change of various human phenomena, as well as the formation and development of the regional structure of human social activities.

2. The research object is different: the research object of physical geography is the natural geographical environment, including the natural environment that is only indirectly or slightly affected by human beings and the original natural appearance has not undergone significant changes, and the artificial environment that has been directly affected by human beings for a long time and has caused major changes in the original natural appearance. The research object of human geography is mainly the relationship between man and land.

3. Different branches: The sub-disciplines of comprehensive physical geography include comprehensive physical geography, regional physical geography, paleogeography and historical physical geography. Human geography can generally be divided into a comprehensive theory part, a general theory part (departmental human geography) and a monograph part (regional human geography).

Geography is a discipline about the relationship between a person living on earth and the geographical environment in which he lives. Generally speaking, geography covers the various environments of human life, that is, the natural environment and the human environment.

The natural environment includes the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, biosphere, pedosphere and other spheres, which gives rise to various branches of geography, such as climatic phenomena, hydrological phenomena and water environment, natural resources on the earth, landforms, the distribution of organisms and ecological phenomena, the distribution and types of soil, and many other phenomena, in addition to these, physical geographical phenomena also focus on the surface system phenomena due to the interaction of style, hydrology, plants, and soil, as well as various environmental phenomena and climatic phenomena due to human activities. Therefore, scholars call such a discipline physical geography.

In addition to physical geography, human beings are social, so they also include the relationship between various human social phenomena and the geographical environment, such as the distribution of agriculture, the distribution of industry, the distribution of settlements, etc., especially focusing on the relationship between human economic activities and the environment, but the content of this aspect is relatively broad, involving a lot of scope and it is not easy to distinguish from others, let's call it human geography (including economic geography).

The differences between natural sciences and social sciences are: 1. The research objects are different. 2. The purpose of the research is different.

3. Different research fields. 4. Different research methods. Although the natural sciences and the social sciences differ in many of these ways, both aim to reveal the connections between things.

Natural Sciences

Natural science, together with "social science" and "thinking science", is called the "three major fields of science", which is a general term for the study of inorganic nature and organic nature, including the biological attributes of human beings, using quantification as a means. Natural sciences are the sciences that study organic or inorganic things and phenomena in nature, including astronomy, physics, chemistry, earth science, biology, etc.

Social Sciences

Social science is the study of various phenomena of human society in general or any one of them by scientific methods. It is the science that studies various social phenomena, such as sociology studies human society (mainly contemporary), political science studies politics, policy, and political activities, and economics studies resource allocation.

The Science of Thinking

The science of thinking is the science that studies the laws and forms of thinking activities. It is necessary to study the natural and social attributes of thinking, the material basis of thinking, language and its role in thinking, the historical development of thinking, animal "thinking" and machine "thinking", etc., as well as applied research. There is no consensus on the classification of the science system of thinking.