Founders of Modern Geographical Thought: Alexander Von Humboldt and Carl Ritter

Founders of Modern Geographical Thought: Alexander Von Humboldt and Carl Ritter
If the geographers of the late nineteenth century developed the greater part of the theoretical concepts of the
new science of geography, the transformation of their “ideas, demands and wishes into facts” was largely the
work of Alexander Von Humboldt (1769-1859) and Carl Ritter (1779-1859). It is an extraordinary fact that
modern geography in all lands should owe so much to these two men living at the same time in the same
country for over thirty years in the same city. Many writers refer to them as the founders of modern geography.
Using the large volume of new information resulting from the voyages of exploration, Humboldt and Ritter,
each in his own way produced massive syntheses. Although these syntheses made use of the concepts and
methods of study developed during the preceding two centuries, they, nevertheless, sought to present universal
knowledge*, just as Strabo had done and as had been attempted during the Age of Exploration by Munster,
Varenius, Busching and others.
Both the founders of the classical modern geography depended in large part on their predecessors whom they
had in common. Kant gave geography a philosophical foundation and Forsters demonstrated a method of
research and a literary style, but Alexander Von Humboldt and Carl Ritter developed the subject as an
independent branch of knowledge. Both of them had many views in common and were united in their criticism
of the causal* and unsystematic treatment of geographical data by other predecessors. The similarity of their
opinion was not accidental – Ritter regarded himself as a student of Humboldt and Humboldt described Ritter as
‘his old friend’.
The geography which Humboldt and Ritter demonstrated was defined as ‘classical’ by Hartshorne (1976),
because it dominated the foundation period of the subject and because its methods were uniform and simple.
Both believed that sciences must be founded on the objective descriptions* of observed facts rather than on
logical propositions like those proposed by Kant and others; geographers should collect empirical data* and
must shape order and association from this material in order to arrive at an inductive explanation*. They both
died in 1859, the year of the publication of Charles Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’. Their ideas and purpose,
although formulated before the great impact of evolutionary thought, and before the enormous extension of
exploration and mapping in the latter half of the century, have continued to serve as guideposts in the field of
geography.
Both Humboldt and Ritter laid great stress on the unity of nature, though one has a scientific and other a
religious approach. They both believed that the ultimate aim of research was to clarify this unity and, in this
respect, were in accord with the idealistic philosophies* of their time. Humboldt did not pursue idealism in the
same way as Ritter, for his concept of the unity of nature was more a rational scientific principle than religious.
Unlike Ritter, he saw no reason to explain unity and order in nature as God-given system to further humanity’s
development. Humboldt was very much engaged in the gradual development of natural science, and his greatest
contributions lay in the field of systematic physical geography. Ritter was, on the other hand, to a considerable
extent a regional geographer.
Terminologies
 universal knowledge - Something that is universal relates to everyone in the world or everyone in a
particular group or society.
 causal – a relationship, link, etc. between two things in which one causes the other.
 objective descriptions - expressing or dealing with facts or conditions as perceived without distortion
by personal feelings, prejudices, or interpretations
 empirical data - Empirical data is information acquired by scientists through experimentation and
observation, and it is essential to the scientific process. Use of the scientific method involves making an
observation, developing an idea, testing the idea, getting results, and making a conclusion.
 inductive explanation – also read inductive reasoning is a method of reasoning in which the premises are
viewed as supplying some evidence for the truth of the conclusion; this is in contrast
to deductive reasoning. While the conclusion of a deductive argument is
‘certain, the truth of the conclusion of an inductive argument may be probable, based upon the evidence
given.
 idealistic philosophy - any view that stresses the central role of the ideal or the spiritual in the
interpretation of experience. It may hold that the world or reality exists essentially as spirit
or consciousness, that abstractions and laws are more fundamental in reality than sensory things, or, at
least, that whatever exists is known in dimensions that are chiefly mental—through and as ideas.

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