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Environmental Determinism: Broken Paradigm Or Viable Perspective?., Gerald L. Hardin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The research was to examine the issue of environmental determinism. It was an ideology that was prevalent throughout the early decades of the 20^th century that held that the natural environment was responsible for virtually all human development. It helped bring the study of geography into the venue of postsecondary education, where it was viewed as a tool for study of human activities. It was a new science inspired by Darwinism that viewed human adaptation to the natural environment as critical to socialization.

Relying on historical sources, the purpose of the study was to reveal how environmental determinism became …