西方经济地理学之演变及海峡两岸地理学者应有的认识

The development of Western economic geography and its implications for geographers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait

近半个世纪以来 ,西方主流经济地理学产生了巨大的变革。除了受到世界性生产制度及新科技发展之影响外 ,其学术思潮也从早期的叙述性及二战后的科学的预测性 ,经历了制度转向及文化转向 ,进入了 80年代以后的新经济地理学时期。西方主流经济地理学理论的开展 ,是以先进的资本主义社会为基础的 ,在发展中国家不是全然适用。我们不应将中国大陆及台湾仅仅视为测试西方理论的试验场。应以实况为基础 ,开发适合国情的理论 ,建立我们特有的学术身份 ,并用它来批判主流理论之不足 ,与主流对话 ,变成主流的一部分。这应是我们学术国际化的主要目标。

Since the 1950s, Western economic geography has undergone major paradigmatic transformations, influenced in part by institutional and technical changes in global economic production. Mainstream economic geography has witnessed major epistemological shifts away from earlier 'mere description' to logical positivism, and from meta-theorization aiming at scientific prediction to place- and region-centered analysis for hermeneutic understanding. A new economic geography has appeared characterized by institutionalism, 'cultural turn' and pluralism. Geographers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have not had significant interactions with mainstream economic geography. Not only should we be familiar with the theories of mainstream economic geography, we should also critique them and modify them using the findings of our fieldwork conducted on the Chinese mainland and in Taiwan. We should establish our own intellectual identity and internationalize our scholarship.