Geosophy is a concept introduced to
geography by
J.K. Wright in
1947. The word is a compound of ‘ge’ (Greek for earth) and ‘sophia’ (Greek for knowledge). Wright defined it thus:
- Geosophy ... is the study of geographical knowledge from any or all points of view. It is to geography what historiography is to history; it deals with the nature and expression of geographical knowledge both past and present—with what Whittlesey has called ‘man’s sense of [terrestrial] space’. Thus it extends far beyond the core area of scientific geographical knowledge or of geographical knowledge as otherwise systematized by geographers. Taking into account the whole peripheral realm, it covers the geographical ideas, both true and false, of all manner of people—not only geographers, but farmers and fishermen, business executives and poets, novelists and painters, Bedouins and Hottentots—and for this reason it necessarily has to do in large degree with subjective conceptions.
- (Wright 1947)
This has been summarised as:
- the study of the world as people conceive of and imagine it
- (McGreevy 1987)
Belief systems as they relate to human interaction with the Earth's environments.
- (attributed to Professor Innes Park 1995)
Superstition
Geosophy is sometimes used as a synonym for the study of
earth mysteries.
References
- McGreevy, P. 1987 Imagining the future at Niagara Falls. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 77 (1):48–62
- Wright, J.K. 1947. Terrae Incognitae: The Place of Imagination in Geography Annals of the Association of American Geographers 37: 1–15.
Geography - (from the Greek words Geo (γη) or Gaea (γαία), both meaning "Earth", and graphein (γράφειν) meaning "to describe" or "to write"
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John Kirtland Wright (1891–1969) was an American geographer, notable for his cartography, geosophy, and study of the history of geographical thought. He was the son of classical scholar John Henry Wright and novelist Mary Tappan Wright, and the brother of legal scholar and
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s
1944 1945 1946 - 1947 - 1948 1949 1950
Year 1947 (MCMXLVII
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The term Earth mysteries is used to describe an interest in a wide range of scientific and pseudo-scientific phenomena. It includes the study of ancient sites and landscapes (including archaeology, archaeoastronomy, and ley lines), unusual natural objects, bizarre events and
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