Abstract：It is very important to understand the whole course of those ever-changing thought on space in human geography and its influences on human geography. This article divides the course into 4 stages, that is the beginning, the continuing periods, the several important turns from World War II to the 1980s, and the last that there is some resemblance with the first stage but not alike at all. At the beginning, it is Kant that firstly, philosophically and specially defines geography as a science of space, and it upraises the position of geography in the system of science. Thereafter, Hettner-Hartshorne follows Kantian view of space. They unite this kind of abstract definition to the practical history that geography often is regards as local chronicles, and hold that the core of geography is region. Since the 1950s, spatial ideas in human geography mainly have undergone 5 turns. Respectively, they are geometry of space, human spatiality, radical space, production of space, and postmodern space. These changes reflect frequent interaction between human geography and math, philosophy, and the other social sciences. There are some similar features on the view of space between the Kantian and the postmodern, such as emphasis on philosophy, the three-dimensional characteristics and so on. To sum up, because these different epistemologies on space are valuable, however it is very difficult to assess them; the debates on the place and identity of human geography are increasingly fade-out. That indicates there are multiple directions on research of human geography. Philosophy, the other social sciences and humanities offer the basis and tools for human geography, and they not only make the identity of human geography confusing but also make it more vigorous and charming. This is the greatest opportunity and challenge that human geographers have to be faced.
叶超. 人文地理学空间思想的几次重大转折[J]. 人文地理, 2012, 27(5): 1-5,61.
YE Chao. THE SIGNIFICANT TURNS OF THOUGHTS ON SPACE IN HUMAN GEOGRAPHY. HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, 2012, 27(5): 1-5,61.
