Understanding the Changing Planet： Strategic Directions for the Geographical Sciences （UCP）, published by the National Research Council （USA）, and its comments in The Professional Geographer propose that uppercas...Understanding the Changing Planet： Strategic Directions for the Geographical Sciences （UCP）, published by the National Research Council （USA）, and its comments in The Professional Geographer propose that uppercase and plural ＂Geographical Sciences＂ （GS） is the strategic direction for geography in the next decade for better understanding of our rapidly changing planet. According to these comments, UCP valued technologies and tools exces- sively （＂task＂）, and did not pay much attention to methodology （＂discipline＂）. Actually, both ＂task＂ and ＂discipline＂ are geographical wings, especially in the time of ＂big science＂. Enlightenment from UCP and its comments is the strategic direction that should be balanced between ＂task＂ and ＂discipline＂, GS should be a three-dimensional construct of a disciplinary system, methodology, and technologies and tools, and this system should be scientific hu- manism based on scientific spirit and directed by humanism. During the last 60 years, Chi- nese geographers devoted themselves to GS, including practice and theory. Obviously pro- gress and outlook are proposed as interdisciplinary GS, Earth Surface Sciences （ESS） and Geographical Construction （GC）. The disciplinary system of GS is very complex, and is composed of such human knowledge domains as sciences, technologies, engineering, and philosophy. The main mission is to research the open, complex, and macro earth system （not only scientifically, but also humanistically）, and one significant methodology is ＂comprehen- sive integration of qualitative and quantitative means＂ （CIQQM）. At the same time, another changing direction in Chinese geography is Human-Economic Geography （HEG）.展开更多
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China, No .40761001 No.41071105+2 种基金 No.41261033 Innovation Me- thod Fund of China, No.2007FY 140800 National Philosophy Social Science of China, No.BHA100058
文摘Understanding the Changing Planet： Strategic Directions for the Geographical Sciences （UCP）, published by the National Research Council （USA）, and its comments in The Professional Geographer propose that uppercase and plural ＂Geographical Sciences＂ （GS） is the strategic direction for geography in the next decade for better understanding of our rapidly changing planet. According to these comments, UCP valued technologies and tools exces- sively （＂task＂）, and did not pay much attention to methodology （＂discipline＂）. Actually, both ＂task＂ and ＂discipline＂ are geographical wings, especially in the time of ＂big science＂. Enlightenment from UCP and its comments is the strategic direction that should be balanced between ＂task＂ and ＂discipline＂, GS should be a three-dimensional construct of a disciplinary system, methodology, and technologies and tools, and this system should be scientific hu- manism based on scientific spirit and directed by humanism. During the last 60 years, Chi- nese geographers devoted themselves to GS, including practice and theory. Obviously pro- gress and outlook are proposed as interdisciplinary GS, Earth Surface Sciences （ESS） and Geographical Construction （GC）. The disciplinary system of GS is very complex, and is composed of such human knowledge domains as sciences, technologies, engineering, and philosophy. The main mission is to research the open, complex, and macro earth system （not only scientifically, but also humanistically）, and one significant methodology is ＂comprehen- sive integration of qualitative and quantitative means＂ （CIQQM）. At the same time, another changing direction in Chinese geography is Human-Economic Geography （HEG）.
