What is probabilism in geography6/2/2023 ![]() ![]() From the middle of the 19th century it has been shaped by debates in evolutionary theory, between the classical Darwinian position that evolution moves gradually, driven by the random natural selection of traits, and a countervailing position, effectively, environmental determinism for nonhuman biology, that evolution is shaped by speciation events caused by geographical isolation. The doctrine of environmental determinism, as it bears on humanity, has roots deep in the past in efforts to understand “man’s place in nature” within and then beyond theological frameworks. ![]() ![]() Between these two extreme positions lies a broad spectrum of positions described variously as “environmental possibilism” or “environmental probablism.” The “possibilists” are very close to a cultural determinist position the “probablist” position-in which the vast majority of work is now done – argues that there has always been a complex and evolving mutual reciprocity between nature and humanity, an understanding broadly ecological in its appreciation of interconnection. Environmental determinism occupies one end of a continuum, cultural determinism occupies the other each argues that the human condition is determined simply by nature or simply by culture.
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