ABSTRACT

Of the many hats David Lowenthal wore during his long life perhaps the most important was as a geographer. All his permanent academic positions were within institutions of geography. Undoubtedly, he could have moved to another discipline, but he remained a geographer. This paper aims to understand why geography was so alluring for him. It is divided into three parts. The first identifies four broad intellectual themes or interests that course through much of his substantive work: his polymathic inclinations; the centrality of history; the influence of the humanities; and a curiosity about the material environment and landscape. The second is about Lowenthal’s conception of the discipline of geography and why despite being pulled towards other disciplinary concerns he stayed loyal, notwithstanding significant reservations. And the last is about how he understood the discipline’s history which, while he rarely wrote about, he knew well, and partly explaining his more-or-less faithful attachment.

摘要

在大卫·洛文塔尔漫长的一生中戴过的许多帽子中，也许最重要的是作为一名地理学家。他所有的永久学术职位都在地理机构内。毫无疑问，他本可以转向另一门学科，但他仍然是一名地理学家。本文旨在了解为什么地理对他如此有吸引力。它分为三个部分。第一个确定了四个广泛的知识主题或兴趣，这些主题或兴趣贯穿他的大部分实质性工作：他的博学倾向；历史的中心地位；人文学科的影响；以及对物质环境和景观的好奇心。第二个是关于洛文塔尔对地理学学科的概念，以及为什么尽管被拉到其他学科问题上，他仍然保持忠诚，尽管有很大的保留。