复杂性科学视角下的地理学研究范式转型

The Paradigm Transformation of Geography from the Perspective of Complexity Sciences

随着复杂性科学的兴起,地理学研究范式正逐步发生改变。本文在回顾复杂性科学发展历程和当代地理学研究范式变迁的基础上,对地理系统复杂性的表现、特点、成因及其相关的研究方法作了较为详细的解释和说明,比较了传统经典地理学研究范式与复杂性科学视角下地理学研究范式的差异,最后探讨了复杂性地理学思维的创新与发展图景,即超越还原论的地理学整体思维和地学格局与过程的广义进化思维。

Geographic System is fundamentally a complex system with properties（e.g.emergence,nonlinearity,feedbacks,self organization,path dependence,adaptation,and multiple scales） that cannot be explained through understanding the components parts individually.Complexity sciences,rising in the 1980s,has brought a new perspective for the paradigm transformation of geography.This paper briefly reviews the development of complexity sciences and the changing paradigm of geography.Then the performance,characteristics,and causes of complexity in geographic system are explained and analyzed thoroughly.Paradigms,including ontology,epistemology and methodology between classical geography and geography from the perspective of complexity sciences are compared.Six methods（i.e.soft computing,simulating,scaling,Geographic Information System,metaphor and meta-synthetic method） are summarized for the study of complexity in geographic system.In the end,the authors conclude that the paradigm transformation of geography from the perspective of complexity sciences lies in the formation of a new and innovative thinking,which is considered a beyond reductionism,holistic and pattern/process based generalized evolutionary thinking.