The poetics of geographical knowledge: For a genealogy of geographical aesthetics in history and philosophy of geography

Abstract

This short reflection on forty years of the UK's History and Philosophy of Geography group reflects on the poetics of geographical knowledge. Whilst histories of geography have diverged from philosophies of geography over recent years, the intervention proposes that a useful avenue of enquiry for future work is to develop fuller historical and philosophical accounts of the forms and poetics of geographical writing. This includes: philosophical reflection on form and space; historical studies of the varying forms, styles, and poetics of geographical knowledge; and active experiments with formal aspects of writing. Through a short reflection on the ethics of Jean-Marie Guyau (a sociologist whose naturalist and vitalist ethics had an important influence on anarchist geographers) the paper proposes an approach to the authority of geographical texts that is animated by an anomic ethos that is: genetic; affirmative; and generous.