LANDSCAPE AS A SUBJECT OF HUMAN IMPACT

A continuing critique of the Soviet school of anthropogenic landscape science (see Soviet Geography, October 1974) questions whether man is, in fact, capable of creating “new” landscapes or his intervention in the natural environment simply tends to “modify” existing natural landscapes. The author rejects the view that significant modification of anyone of the components of landscape (including flora and fauna) is sufficient to produce an anthropogenic landscape or that a cutover forest area or a cattle trail, for example, represents a newly created landscape. A genuine modification of landscape requires an alteration of the basic structure of landscape, and this can be achieved only through modification of primary landscape components, such as the geomorphic foundation and climate. These are precisely the components that are less susceptible to human intervention than secondary components like plant and animal communities. Another criterion of basic landscape modification is stability; most anthropogenic landscapes turn out to be unstable when abandoned. Man achieves the most stable results in landscape modification by acting in concert with natural dynamic tendencies in the landscape.     

URBANIZATION AS A PHENOMENON OF SOCIAL HISTORY

Summary. The prime question considered is the process by which a village is transformed to a city. Two intermediate stages are defined: the quasi-city and the proto-city, the principal differences being that the proto-city serves as a central place in a region, has a higher level of social production and contains a high percentage of people engaged part time or full time in specialist activities. The role of craftsmen, traders and palace/temples are discussed. The full city emerges only with a fully developed class society.     

THE EVOLUTION OF A PILGRIMAGE AS A SPATIAL-SYMBOLIC SYSTEM

The evolution of a popular circular Buddhist pilgrimage to 88 sacred places on Shikoku Island, Japan, reflects the dynamic nature of pilgrimage. The pilgrimage, of eighth-century origin and associated with Kobo Daishi, was gradually established and elaborated as a spatial system which also assumed symbolic value. Relocations of some temples, a shift in the embarkation point, changes in the sequence of temple visiting, and a decrease in the time and distance of the journey are the spatial adjustments through which the pilgrimage has evolved to the present.
L'évolution d'un pèlerinage bouddhiste populaire formant un circuit de 88 lieux sacrés sur l'Ile Shikoku au Japon reflète la nature dynamique du pèlerinage. Le pèlerinage, dont les débuts datent de huit siècles et qu'on associe au Kobo Daishi, fut progressivement établi et élaboré en tant que système spatial qui, en même temps, prend une valeur symbolique. Le déménagement de certains temples, un changement de points de départ, des changements dans l'ordre des temples à visiter et une diminution de l'élément spatio-temporelle du voyage constituent des ajustements à travers lesquelles le pèlerinage a évolué jusqu'à nos jours.     

THE EVOLUTION OF A PILGRIMAGE AS A SPATIAL-SYMBOLIC SYSTEM

The evolution of a popular circular Buddhist pilgrimage to 88 sacred places on Shikoku Island, Japan, reflects the dynamic nature of pilgrimage. The pilgrimage, of eighth-century origin and associated with Kobo Daishi, was gradually established and elaborated as a spatial system which also assumed symbolic value. Relocations of some temples, a shift in the embarkation point, changes in the sequence of temple visiting, and a decrease in the time and distance of the journey are the spatial adjustments through which the pilgrimage has evolved to the present. L'évolution d'un pèlerinage bouddhiste populaire formant un circuit de 88 lieux sacrés sur l'Ile Shikoku au Japon reflète la nature dynamique du pèlerinage. Le pèlerinage, dont les débuts datent de huit siècles et qu'on associe au Kobo Daishi, fut progressivement établi et élaboré en tant que système spatial qui, en même temps, prend une valeur symbolique. Le déménagement de certains temples, un changement de points de départ, des changements dans l'ordre des temples à visiter et une diminution de l'élément spatio-temporelle du voyage constituent des ajustements à travers lesquelles le pèlerinage a évolué jusqu'à nos jours.     

SUBJECTIVITY AS A NON-TEXTUAL STANDARD OF INTERPRETATION IN THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Contemporary caution against anachronism in intellectual history, and the currently momentous theoretical emphasis on subjectivity in the philosophy of mind, are two prevailing conditions that set puzzling constraints for studies in the history of philosophical psychology. The former urges against assuming ideas, motives, and concepts that are alien to the historical intellectual setting under study, and combined with the latter suggests caution in relying on our intuitions regarding subjectivity due to the historically contingent characterizations it has attained in contemporary philosophy of mind. In the face of these conditions, our paper raises a question of what we call non-textual (as opposed to contextual) standards of interpretation of historical texts, and proceeds to explore subjectivity as such a standard. Non-textual standards are defined as (heuristic) postulations of features of the world or our experience of it that we must suppose to be immune to historical variation in order to understand a historical text. Although the postulation of such standards is often so obvious that the fact of our doing so is not noticed at all, we argue that the problems in certain special cases, such as that of subjectivity, force us to pay attention to the methodological questions involved. Taking into account both recent methodological discussion and the problems inherent in two de facto denials of the relevance of subjectivity for historical theories, we argue that there are good grounds for the adoption of subjectivity as a nontextual standard for historical work in philosophical psychology.     

万里长城的地理界线意义

长城,不仅是中华民族古老文化的象征,而且是一条实际存在的重要地理界线。历代长城的布设都是以自然地理环境为基础,其走向与我国半湿润与干旱气候分界线基本一致。因此,长城也就成为我国农区和牧区分界线的标志。长城的延伸或回退,基本上反映了农区与牧区的扩张或收缩。从政治地理的角度来考察长城。可以认为,它是我国历史上各民族政治力量相互对峙、较量形成的"力"的平衡带,长城,一方面发挥了分隔两个政治单元的功能,它们延伸或收缩在一定程度上反映了两种力量对比的变化;另一方面,在先进与落后两种势力的对撞中.客观上却促进了相互间经济和文化的交流,促进了不同民族的融合。今日长城作为领土扩张和防御的军事设施作用已不复存在。但是长城在地理上的许多界限指标意义仍然存在,它依然是许多地理事物的敏感地区。     

OXYGEN ISOTOPE ANALYSIS AS A MEANS OF DETERMINING SEASON OF OCCUPATION OF PREHISTORIC MIDDEN SITES

By making oxygen isotope palaeotemperature determination of successive growth increments in molluscan food-refuse shells it is possible to determine the sea temperature, and hence the season, at time of death of the shells. Although this is a method which involves the use of sophisticated and expensive equipment, it may under favourable circumstances give extremely reliable results. Shells of the limpet species Patella tabularis in the midden deposits at Nelson Bay Cave, Robberg, Cape Province, South Africa, prove to represent almost ideal material, and are used to demonstrate, contrary to what guesswork might lead one to suppose, that the site was occupied during the winter months.     

ANALYSING THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE AS A MEANS OF PROBING THE NON-MATERIAL DIMENSION OF REALITY

The paper analyses in detail the way in which the spatial organization of settlements and the architectural form of buildings and other structures can be interpreted as the expression of the values and beliefs of the people responsible for them. In doing this, it draws on recent developments in linguistics and physiological psychology. The procedure, while not completely objective, does provide for the presentation of verifiable evidence and the testing of hypotheses.