The Concept of the Noosphere

A Marxist philosopher questions the premise stated during the debate over a unified geography 1960–1964] that the natural sciences must be concerned with the study of the laws of nature and the social sciences with the study of the laws of society, and the two may not be mixed. He develops the concept of the noosphere as the sphere in which man interacts with nature (called by others the anthroposphere, technosphere, or sociosphere) and suggests the need for the elaboration of a general theory of the man-nature relationship. The first steps leading to such a theory should involve the study of society by the techniques of the natural sciences, the study of nature by the techniques of the social sciences, and the elaboration of parameters characterizing the actual man-nature relationship.