THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE SELECTION OF RESEARCH OBJECTS IN GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE

Abstract

The article provides a theoretical and methodological analysis of the selection of research objects in geographical science. The history of distinguishing objects of geographical science is complex due to the subject area of geography. An analysis of historical and geographical studies shows that the general object of geographical sciences was proposed to be considered as “geospace”, “natural and social environment”, “natural environment changed by man”, “geographical environment”, “geoversum”, “geographical universe”, “geographical shell”, “and landscape shell”. An analysis of the object of study in geographical science by various authors has been carried out. Scientists S. Moroz, V. Onoprienko and S. Bortnyk emphasise that it is appropriate to consider the geographical environment as the general object of study for geographical science. The idea that the “geographical environment” should be considered as the main object of study can also be found in earlier works by geographers. A number of scientists do not recognise the geographical environment as an object of study in geography. O. Topchiiev, in his textbook “Social and Geographical Research: Methodology, Methods, Techniques” (2005), notes that geography encompasses the study of phenomena of various scales – from the microenvironment to the geographical shell of the planet Earth. We conclude that the general object of geographical science is interpreted ambiguously, which is reflected in the use of different terminological variants. Various approaches are used to define it. The most common approach in geographical science is the geospheric one. In modern science, geography does not have a separate universal term that would unambiguously define the Earth’s shell as a single object with a set of all its geospheres. Traditionally, the term “geographical shell” is used in geography. O. Topchiiev and D. Malchikova, in their work “Methodological Foundations of Geography” (2019), write that the concept of the “landscape shell of the Earth” forms the theoretical and methodological basis of geographical science. Thus, the introduction of a new concept – the landscape shell of the Earth leads to certain methodological transformations in the subject area of geography. Theoretical and methodological analysis plays an important role in selecting the object of research in geographical science, since this analysis helps to achieve scientific validity, consistency and effectiveness of the entire research process.