Contemporary philosophical perspectives on physical geography with emphasis on geomorphology

Practitioners of physical geography stand to gain clarity, unity, and strength from philosophical and methodological awareness. Contemporary perspectives in the philosophy of science include scientific realism, postpositivist empiricism, and social constructivism, or relativism. These perspectives provide a foundation for philosophical analysis, but it is uncertain whether any existing philosophical framework can be applied unmodified to geomorphology. Philosophical introspection promises geomorphologists an important opportunity to evaluate the role of the discipline in science at large and a context in which to explain and embrace methdological diversity. -Authors