Area (1998) 30.1, 8-1 8

Ethics in : giving moral form to the geographical imagination

James D Proctor Department of Geography, 361 1 Ellison Hall, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4060, USA. Email: [email protected]

Revised manuscript received 27 October 1997.

Summary Geographers have become increasingly interested in questions of . In this paper, I introduce the scope and major concerns of ethics, briefly reviewing recent literature as a means of situating geography's potential contribution. I then link ethics to the geographical imagination by developing a twofold schema representing geography's ontological project and epistemological process, an approach that unites existing professional and substantive ethical concerns among geographers. Examples of recent work by geographers in these areas are noted. I close with a set of broad questions at the interface of ethics and geography worthy of further reflection.

Introduction inherent in the subject-matter of geography. The interest was engendered principally in response to Philosophical introspection is a hallmark of much the professed value-neutrality of the burgeoning contemporary geography. Perhaps it is the disci- quantitative approach in geography, with its empha- pline's sheer diversity (Buttimer 1993), or the sis on objectivist spatial analysis (Billinge et a1 1984; fundamental questions that geographers pose Cosgrove 1989). Values, then, have been noted for (Unwin 1992), that leads to this reflective attitude. some time to be as much a part of geography as Clearly, some geographers are more enamoured ; as a rigorous analysis of values, ethics can with philosophical discussions than others; yet, taken enrich this discussion. as a whole, the discipline largely belies its com- Like geography to non-geographers, however, mon interpretation by non-geographers as more a ethics to non-ethicists is often misunderstood, repository of descriptive facts about the world though the caricature painted of ethics is opposite to than some deeper intellectual perspective on their that of geography in many ways. Ethics is often held meaning. to be a hopelessly abstract and speculative field, one This paper is built upon recent forays by as impractical as it is incomprehensible, of interest geographers into one particularly fascinating and only to scholars paid to think thoughts bearing little eminently important area of : the realm connection to outside the ivory tower. This of ethics, or moral philosophy. Recent reviews of charge is in large part false, though its status is well subdisciplinary efforts suggest that there has been a known among moral philosophers, who work hard marked increase in geographical publications attend- to paint a different picture of ethics. Thus, Peter ing to normative issues in general, and ethics in Singer argues in his preface to a recent multi- particular, in the last half-decade (eg Matless 1995, authored overview of the subject: 396-7; Driver 1996, 101). This emphasis is not It is vital that ethics not be treated as something remote, entirely new: it builds in many ways upon a broader to be studied only by scholars locked away in univer- interest in values, dating from the 1970s among sities. Ethics deals with values, with good and bad, with geographers (Buttimer 1974), involving both the right and wrong. We cannot avoid involvement in professional issue of values inherent in the practice ethics, for what we deand what we don't deis of geography, and the substantive issue of values always a possible subject of ethical evaluation. Anyone Ethics in geography 9

who thinks about what he or she ought to do is, omic, political and cultural development of western consciously or unconsciously, involved in ethics (Singer societies (Horkheimer and Adorno 1972; Sorell 1993, v). 1991; Latour 1993). These are disturbing moral Singer’s argument is directed at people in general, questions, for they shake the very normative foun- and, as such, we geographers ought to listen. But dations of ; thus, it is politically understand- what of our disciplinary concepts and practices?To able that they have not attracted the concerted what extent does ethics occupy a critical, even attention paid by scientists to the lesser-though unavoidable place throughout geography? To what in themselves important-questions of professional extent can geographers, in particular the diverse practice. threads of their geographical imaginations (Gregory Philosophical usage of the term ethics is thus 1994b), contribute fruitfully to moral discourse? broader than this prevailing scientific interpretation. I begin with a clarification of what is meant by Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, involves ethics, as considerable confusion results from the systematic intellectual reflection on in different ways in which the term has been employed, general-morality , as commonly understood, especially in the . After briefly surveying the realm of significant normative concerns, often Contemporary work in ethics, I propose the moral described by notions such as good or bad, right or form of geographical imaginations expressed in wrong, justified or unjustified, and so forth-or the discipline by developing a twofold schema specific moral concerns in particular. The former can representing geography’s ontological project and be called theoretical ethics, and the latter applied epistemological process, closing with some broad ethics, though the two are closely related. One realm questions worthy of further attention. of that has garnered considerable attention outside philosophy focuses on professional conduct; thus, the moral questions asked by Background: ethics scientists, as well as those in, for instance, the fields of law, medicine and business, are legitimate Ethics defined components of ethical enquiry. What is ethics? In science, ethics typically involves In addition to ethics involving both theoretical and reflection upon moral questions that arise in applied concerns, another useful distinction can be research, publication and other professional ac- drawn between descriptive ethics, tivities. Is it wrong to bend data to support one‘s and meta-ethics (though only the latter two are conclusions?To publish data gathered under some represented in philosophical literature). The aim of assumption of confidentiality on the part of the descriptive ethics is to characterize existing moral research subject? To publish a work based substan- schemes; this has been an important feature of, for tially on the research of one’s graduate student(s) as instance, cultural anthropology, which in so doing one’s own? To enter the policy arena as a scientist, has raised the problem of (Benedict 1934; where and partiality could well clash?The Geertz 1989). Normative ethics are devoted to sheer number and complexity of these kinds of constructing a suitable moral basis for informing ethical issues in the conduct of science is amply human conduct: contemporary examples include evidenced in recent literature (eg Erwin et al 1994; Rawls’ theory of (1 971 ) and Carol Gilligan‘s Shrader-Frechette 1994; Weeks and Kinser 1994). contrasting, feminist-inspired ethics of care (1982). But this prevailing sense of ethics among scientists Meta-ethics, in distinction, is more an examination is quite narrowly circumscribed, avoiding at least as of the characteristics of ethical reasoning, or sys- many difficult moral questions as it asks. Indeed, the tems of ethics. A classic meta-ethical problem, as kinds of moral issues entertained in much current exemplified in ’s is-ought dichotomy work on ethics in science dodge the much larger (1 9781, concerns the relationship between facts moral question of the ethics of science-whether, (descriptive statements) and values (normative for instance, its current research priorities and the statements); this problem has been a major concern amount of scarce resources currently allocated to of, for instance, twentieth-century social theory scientific research are justifiable, or whether the (O’Neill 1993). typically elevated status of scientific pronounce- Much work in Western ethics is derived from the ments on reality is justified, in the light of the many way in which moral philosophy has developed. cogent critiques of the role of science in the econ- For instance, one major theme to which many 10 Proctor theoretical discussions-primarily normative, but interest include medicine (Benn and Boyd 1996; also meta-ethical-have returned involves the Koch 1996), law (Alfieri 1996; Hazard 1996), busi- relationship between the right and the good. The ness (Becker 1996; Newton and Schmidt 1996) and right corresponds to a particular act or intent; science (Vinogradov 1996; Zahorik 1996), as well as the good implies rather the end or justification for a other professions ranging from (Bowyer particular act or intent. These terms are of primary and Donner 1996) to journalism (Cunningham significance in Western ethics, in that they corre- 1996). spond to the two major classes of moral theories: Contemporary work in ethics is thus overridingly teleological theories such as , where ecumenical, involving significant contributions from the good is the primary concern, and deonto- many scholars outside philosophy and theology; logical theories, where the right becomes a more there is certainly room for geographers to participate. paramount concern (for introductory discussion, see In addition, though much of this work involves Davis 1993, 206% Goodin 1993, 241 ). specific applied and professional concerns, these concerns span a broad range of issues and contexts; Contemporary work in ethics geographers should thus expect to find significant Intellectual reflection on ethics in Western societies ethical questions arising throughout the domain of has existed since at least the time of Socrates, to their discipline. Indeed, there are many common whom attributed the famous quote ‘The questions being asked in contemporary work in unexamined life is not worth living’ (Apology, ethics and geography, in areas such as gender 38A). Though space precludes treatment of this (Young 1990; Benhabib 1992; Rose 19931, develop- rich history of ethical enquiry, a brief review of ment theory (Friedmann 1992; Corbridge 1993), the contemporary literature may suggest how community identity and exclusion (Walzer 1983; geographers could participate. Sibley 1988; 1995), postmodernism (Dear 1988; Contemporary work in ethics is marked by its Harvey 1989; Bauman 1994) and justice, uni- sheer magnitude and diversity. This review offers a versalism and (Tronto 1993; Smith 1994; snapshot, being restricted to journal articles and Harvey 1996; O’Neill 1996). books published during the first half of 1996a period of time in which over 300 English-language A framework for ethical enquiry in titles appeared. During this period, a fair amount of literature emerged in the disciplines classically con- geography cerned with ethics, namely philosophy and theology. Geographers have published few books offering Though some of this work examined traditional sustained attention to ethics; those in have figures, running from Plato (Burke 1996) through to been rather specifically delimited to topics such as Hobbes (Deigh 1996), the bulk focused on contem- the ethics of geographical research (Mitchell and porary theoretical and applied ethics (Fryer 1996; Draper 1982), the struggle between imagination and Parsons 1996). morality in the worlds people create (Tuan 1989) One of the primary lessons revealed by an exami- and geographical dimensions of social justice (Smith nation of publications in ethics during this period is 1994). Indeed, most reviews suggest that current that scholars from virtually all disciplines are con- work is not spread throughout the discipline, nor tributing to the field, primarily in the context of throughout the spectrum of moral philosophy, being contemporary applied concerns (though theoretical largely confined to specific topical and theoretical ethics still flourishes: see Gatens 1996; Hoffmann clusters within (Ley 1994), and and Hornung 1996). Examples include international focusing much more on descriptive than normative migration (Abernethy 1996; Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh ethics, and much more on both than meta-ethics. 1996), suicide (Beauchamp 1996; Lester and In an upcoming review, David Smith discusses a Leenaars 1996), (Fox 1996; Herzog 1996), number of geographically relevant questions related the US Congress (Frederick 1996; Gabaldon 1996), to meta-ethics, but finds few geographers to cite in gay rights (Clark 1996; Thurston 1996), multi- this area to date; by contrast, work by geographers culturalism (Ibrahim 1996; Michel 1996) and war on ’moral ’, what could loosely be called and peace (Nardin 1996; Wells 1996). a form of thick descriptive ethics, is profuse (Smith, The other major area in which publications are forthcoming b). There are other clusters of interest emerging is professional ethics. Major fields of by geographers as well, including, for example, the Ethics in geography 11 ethics of geographical research, the ethics of CIS, descriptive ethics-a category generally dismissed and social justice (for recent citations, see below). by philosophers as unphilosophical! Additionally, Within each cluster of current interest, work is work by geographers on themes of normative ethics, proceeding fruitfully; yet there is little conver- such as social justice, or meta-ethics, such as the sation between these existing clusters, and emerging possibility of universals, often approaches these clusters of interest are far more difficult to identify. questions from a grounded, contextualized and In short, the current literature suggests both the often concrete perspective, which is quite unlike the potentially fruitful relationship between geography style of much philosophical literature in these two and ethics, and the need to build a more concerted categories of ethics. and systematic effort in this area, in order to touch A final limitation in relying solely on this threefold the themes basic to the geographical imagination rubric is that some of the areas of geographical that can help join these rather disparate interests. interest noted above are related more to profes- Indeed, for this area to develop along more intellec- sional than substantive ethics, and thus do not fit tually robust lines, geographers working on ethics well into this rubric, as they are primarily devoted to must address the questions: how does it all hang a gaze inward at the practice of the discipline versus together? what is the appropriate scope and focus of outward at the world. The relationship between ethics in geography? what pivotal problems should professional and substantive ethics has been less geographers be posing? what are some priority areas worked out for geographers; indeed, Smith’s review for further work? noted above does not engage with professional ethics in geography. Ethical dimensions One way to weave together professional and There have been few theoretical frameworks substantive ethical enquiry in geography is to recall proposed to date to help answer these questions. its heritage in the recent history of interest in values Such a framework would optimally be sensitive to by geographers, as mentioned at the outset. The both ethics and geography: that is, it should embrace rejection, in the 1970s and 198Os, of certain tenets the range of current work in moral philosophy and inherent in the positivist, so-called ‘value-free’ link it to ethically relevant aspects of geographical approach, led to two broad coalitions of geography: theory and practice. One framework that accom- those arguing for greater relevance in geographic plishes the former objective is the threefold tax- research (Mitchell and Draper 1982), and those onomy of descriptive ethics, normative ethics and arguing for the use of more explicitly critical meta-ethics presented above, and it has been fruit- theoretical approaches (eg Peet and Thrift 1989), of fully employed in one upcoming review of work by which William Bunge and , respect- geographers on ethics (Smith, forthcoming b). A ively, stand as early exemplars (Unwin 1992, 162-4). particular strength of this approach is that it parses The net result of these movements could be a out the different objectives and levels of abstraction greater affinity between professional and substantive of ethical analysis. It is important to be clear, for concerns among geographers. Derek Gregory, for instance, whether one is proposing a solution to a example, argues in defence of a morally reflec- moral problem encountered in geographical enquiry tive geographical practice, which is sensitive to the (normative ethics), or rather, looking into the rules morally differentiated character of geographical by which one would propose such a solution reality (Gregory 1994b, 10-1 4). I will expand upon (meta-ethics); likewise, it is important to know the scope of ‘professional’ ethics below, arguing that whether one is primarily interested in providing a it entails much more than proper research and rich account of the ways morality interweaves publication. What will be important in joining these with the geographies of everyday life (descrip- two areas of ethics, I believe, is that professional tive ethics), or whether one is rather seeking to ethics represents the context-the process-out evaluate these moral geographies as better or worse, of which the content-the result-of substantive good or bad, justified or unjustified (normative ethics emerges. joining these two areas will allow ethics). geographers to be properly reflexive in the moral There are problems with this rubric, however. For statements they make about the world, without instance, the growing literature among geographers getting lost in this reflexivity to the point that on moral geographies (see below) is somewhat they cannot speak about the moral nature of this trivialized when classified under the category of world. 12 Proctor

Geographical dimensions range of appropriate enquiry in geographical There is thus a need to retain the important research. Guiding concepts also include philo- distinctions of the threefold rubric of descriptive, sophical commitments as to how is to be normative and meta-ethics, yet also to be sensitive to produced and what kind of knowledge is worth the links between professional and substantive con- producing-other important components of the cerns, and situate this ethical framework within the constitution of geography. Research and analytical practice and substance of the geographical imagi- techniques are more specific, and include methods nation, as expressed by academic geographers. It is of data collection and analysis, such as qualitative this latter task to which I now turn. interviews, field reconnaissance, CIS-based spatial I assume that academic geography exists primarily modelling and so forth. Representation of research as a knowledge-building enterprise, with two major results by geographers commonly include mapping components: its ontological project and its epistemo- and writing, though other forms of representation logical process. Geography’s ontological project is, are possible as well. Implications, whether intentional simply, to make sense of those aspects of reality or unintentional, follow from the production of (thus ‘‘, a term referring to being or reality) geographical knowledge; these may touch upon historically engaged in geographical analysis. Much social, environmental, political, intellectual and/or of geography’s ontological project is bound up in other worlds. specific metaphors used to organize reality; for con- venience, I will adopt the common threesome of Ethics and geography‘s ontological project: space, space, place and nature as the overriding metaphors place, nature informing the ontological gaze of the geographical The metaphor of space provides perhaps the imagination (Gregory 1994a, 21 7). Space is the most familiar entry of geographers into substantive metaphor underlying a good deal of geography’s questions of ethics. Indeed, one of the strongest ontological project, including emphases as disparate areas of attention among geographers has con- as spatial science and Marxist critique. The metaphor cerned spatial dimensions of social justice (Harvey of place underlies more humanistic and interpret- 1973; 1993; Smith 1994; Gleeson 1996). This work ative work in geography; it speaks of a reality as lived builds on geographical analyses of spatial exclusion and understood by active human subjects. The meta- and control (Ogborn and Philo 1994; Sibley 1995), phor of nature underlies and and considers questions such as: geographical geography of the society-nature tradition. Though perspectives on some of its major philosophical these three metaphors are by no means comprehen- figures (Clark 1986); professional and personal sive in geography, they do suggest the different ways responsibilities to distant others spatially (Corbridge in which geography proceeds in its project of making 1993); immigration and social justice (Black 1996); sense of reality. and territorial justice (Boyne and Powell 1991). Geography, of course, accomplishes this ontologi- Work by geographers on social justice is not, cal project via an epistemological process: knowl- however, limited to its spatial dimensions. Geogra- edge of space, place and nature do not arise from phers are, for instance, devoting increasing attention thin air. This is the manner in which professional and to environmental racism and justice, bridging the substantive ethics in geography are connected, since social justice to the metaphor of nature. without process and product, context and content Though contributions by geographers are barely are not comprehensible without the other. Yet the evident in recent anthologies (eg Bryant 1995; epistemological process of geography is far broader Westra and Wenz 1995), an upswing of book-length than what is typically subsumed under the category publications (Pulido 1996), articles in mainstream of ’professional ethics’. Minimally, this process journals (Bowen et a/ 1995) and, indeed, whole involves a set of guiding concepts, implemented issues of geographical journals (see, for instance, via research and analytical techniques to generate Antipode 28(2) and 17(5)), attest knowledge, which has a certain form of represen- to its burgeoning significance. tation and leads to specific social (and other) impli- As another example, David Smith has recently cations. Guiding concepts include the metaphors of posed the question, ‘How far should we care?‘ reality discussed above, which play an important (forthcoming a), in an effort to work through the general role in the constitution and reconstitution of dual perspectives of ethics as spatial justice (where geography’s identity and thus provide a delimited principles of indifference and universality are Ethics in geography 13 prioritized), and ethics as care, a relationally based 1994), the moral geography of reformatories ethics (where one’s families, communities and other (Ploszajska 1994), the moral geography of the social groups of relational significance are the Norfolk Broadlands (Matless 1994) and the moral primary emphasis, where ethics and partiality, discourse of climate (Livingstone 1991). Though the morality and passion are not polar opposites). term has had some use outside of geography (eg Smith’s question clearly considers on the plane of Shapiro 1994; Slater 1997), it would be a gross ethics what many others have considered on the overstatement to suggest that, by means of moral plane of : the tension between the geographies, geographers have made their indelible objectivist, rationalistic metaphor of space, and mark on how ethics ought to be encountered. the explicitly perspectival, embodied metaphor of The metaphor of nature is evident in much of what place (Tuan 1977; Buttimer and Seamon 1980; was presented above, but as a primary focus of Entrikin 1991; Sack 1992). ethical interest among geographers, it has not Place is, of course, already a significant category in enjoyed such diffuse attention as social justice and the works of Sibley and others noted above. It is moral geographies. One important reason is that the perhaps best exemplified, however, in work on vast majority of work by geographers under this ’moral geographies,’ which could loosely be trans- metaphorical trajectory is largely physical and life lated as thick descriptions of the moral features of science-based, and, as such, rarely if ever entertains place. To call this work ‘descriptive ethics’ is missing questions of human ethics. Is this lack of attention by something, however, since place-based ethical physical geographers to ethics justified? At the level enquiry may be closer to the mark of understanding of their immediate topics of interest, perhaps: fluvial human morality than its placeless equivalents, which and microclimatology involve pro- are common in more abstract normative and cesses that have important human impacts and arise meta-ethical enquiry (Walzer 1994; O’Neill 1996, in part from human drivers, but in and of themselves, 68). Indeed, though geographical work in moral there is arguably little ground for ethical reflection. geographies and other questions of ethics has shied Yet, the historical process by which science is de- away from an explicitly normative and/or meta- coupled from explicit attention to morality is well ethical focus, the that there has been some rehearsed elsewhere, and as such suggests that this attention given by geographers to questions such as immediate detachment of physical geography from universalist versus particularist ethics suggests the ethics is as much a particular historical result as some relative ease with which place-based geographical inevitable corollary of its subject matter. analysis lends itself to addressing these more abstract Nonetheless, there has been a rising interest issues (Corbridge 1993; see also 1997 special issue among geographers in environmental ethics. In of Society and Space 15). addition to the entire issues of geographical journals The concept of place itself has been invoked (cited above) that were devoted to environmental by geographers in order to reflect critically on the racism and justice, there is ample supplementary problematic objectification of subjective community evidence of this interest. The inaugural issue of or regional values (Entrikin 1991, 6&83), as well as Philosophy and Geography, for instance, was to ground the moral context of production and devoted to environmental ethics (Light and Smith consumption in advanced industrial societies (Sack 1997). Whole books are now arising that engage 1992, 177-205). Indeed, the moral realm is deeply with questions of nature and morality in significant implicated in the work of many humanist geogra- ways (Simmons 1993; Harvey 1996). phers on p1ac-f which the example of Yi-Fu Tuan Work in this area is predictably diffuse, though not is perhaps most prominent (Tuan 1974; 1993). But at all limited to the recent past, as suggested, for the sheer range of recent work on moral geographies instance, in the writings of Reclus (Clark 1997). Some makes the important collective point that the diverse geographers have situated questions of environ- places geographers study are inescapably normative, mental ethics in the context of culturally based ideas that normativity is not so much something to be of nature (Simmons 1993), while others have dis- added onto place as to be teased out of it. Recent cussed the spatial scale dependency of optimal instances of this work include the explorations of formulations of environmental ethics (Reed and Jackson and others on moral order in the city Slaymaker 1993), and still others have critically (Jackson 1984; Driver 1988), ’moral locations‘ of reviewed the values underlying environmental nineteenth-century Portsmouth (Ogborn and Philo movements (O’Riordan 1981; Lewis 1992), at times 14 Proctor rejecting them in favour of less socio-politically theless its reasoned normative pronouncements are naive alternatives (Pepper 1993). Some have of similar intent. Further enquiry is needed into the looked at environmental ethics from a cross-cultural ways in which basic ontological and epistemological perspective (Wescoat 1997), while others have assumptions shape geographical research in ethically engaged with the modernist and anti-modernist significant ways. underpinnings of Western environmental thought One of the most familiar areas of ethical enquiry (Gandy 1997). Indeed, the diverse linkages that in geography involves research and analytical tech- geographers have drawn between social theory niques, ranging from (Harley 1991; and environmental ideology and ethics (Proctor Monmonier 1991; Rundstrom 1993) to remote sens- 1995; Gandy 1996) are broadly suggestive of the ing and geographic information systems (Wasowski important contributions geographers can make. 1991; Lake 1993; Curry 1994; Crampton 1995). The As suggested above, perhaps the most interesting act of research itself, and the consideration of the substantive work by geographers on ethics trans- role of the researcher vis-i-vis the research sub- cends the boundaries between the metaphors of ject(s), has also been a popular subject of enquiry (eg space, place and nature. Indeed, the key contri- Eyles and Smith 1988; England 1994). Another area bution geographers have to make arises from the where a fair amount of work has been done con- diverse metaphors of reality they entertain; hence, as cerns how geographical knowledge is represented, mentioned earlier, the tension between universals in realms ranging from cartography (see above) to and difference, justice and care, can be entertained academic publication (Brunn 1989; Curry 1991) to thoughtfully by geographers, given the solid estab- education (Havelberg 1990; Kirby 1991; Smith lishment of the discipline upon the metaphors of 1995). Less work focuses on implications of geo- space and place. This strength in metaphorical graphical research, though explicit attention has diversity is also evident in the contribution that been paid to areas with direct social significance, geographers can make to environmental ethics: here, such as planning (Entrikin 1994), and some of the for instance, the problem of how to resolve conflicts most provocative publications by geographers have between social and natural goods can be entertained taken the implications of geographical research as a meaningfully, as geographers have a solid foot starting point for reconfiguring geography (Kropotkin planted in both nature and culture. The diversity of 1885; Harvey 1974). Indeed, ethical issues become geographical imaginations cast upon this world more focused as one moves from a particular geo- thus offers a strong beginning point from which graphical concept to its technical implementation, geographers may make a real contribution to moral and finally to its application. For instance, conceiving discourse space as an isotropic surface appears innocent enough, until one builds a GIS upon this naive Ethics and geography’s epistemological process assumption for the purpose of, say, specifying social- Geographical knowledge does not arise in a vacuum. service facility location. This example also suggests The statements that geographers make about space, the interrelation of ethical issues across the con- place and nature come out of a particular process, of tinuum of geography’s epistemological process, and which four sequential steps were noted above. The points out the severe limitations in a ’professional first stepguiding concepts- draws upon the meta- ethics’ circumscribed solely to questions of research phors that inform geography’s ontological project, as data and publication. well as intrinsic or extrinsic epistemological rules (eg universalizability, or the lack thereof), which govern Conclusion: ethics in geography, the application of these metaphors to knowledge- geography in ethics building. This discussion is well rehearsed in the literature: the critique of over the last Geographers have employed normative concepts, several decades, for instance, is in large a part a whether wittingly or not, in many ways (Hay 1995). critique of how particular ontological and epistemo- Yet, contemporary geography is a vital intellectual logical assumptions associated with positivism have and practical force, due precisely to the willingness constrained the kinds and implications of knowledge of geographers to engage with issues raised outside arising from geographical research (Gregory 1979; the discipline, and their ability to offer a distinct Billinge et a/ 1984). Though this critical literature perspective on these issues. There is arguably no does not go by the self-ascription of ‘ethics’, none- more important set of issues for geographers to Ethics in geography 15 address today than that dealing with complex and In what ways do the dimensions of reality eluci- contested matters of ethics. The contribution of the dated by physical and human geographers (eg geographical imagination has been significant to space, place, biophysical nature) matter in the case date, but much more work remains to be done. In so of ethics?How might moral theory be reconceived doing, geographers will have the opportunity to ask in light of these elements? once again some of the many moral questions that To what extent are substantive questions of ethics have circulated through the discipline for at least the beyond geography’s intellectual grasp and/or topi- last few decades. Ultimately, a more systematic cal or methodologicalbounds-that is, beyond the exploration of the overlapping terrain of geography geographical imagination? Should geographical and ethics will yield valuable benefits to the disci- education be reconceived, so that geographers pline, and to those outside the discipline for whom are better equipped to make contributions toward questions of ethics matter deeply. these questions? I wish to end this paper with questions, not What are the major descriptive, normative and answers, as there are so many to which geographers meta-ethical areas in which geographers can could apply their intellectual efforts. These can be make the greatest contribution in ethics? How, for organized under two main themes: the place of instance, might geographers’ inclination toward ethical reflection in geographical theory and practice, place-based description and theory be channelled and the potential role geography could play in the toward resolution of larger normative and meta- arena of ethics. ethical questions, such as the tension between ethical universalism and particularismor relativism? What is the place of ethics in geography? is uuestions such as these that await further What kinds of values have implicitly or explicitly extension of the geographical imagination. Under- accompanied the practice of geography in its standing ethics as an inextricable part of geography‘s recent history? In which areas of geography has ontological project and epistemological process is explicit moral or normative enquiry been the first step in this direction. embraced or shunned, and why? Is it appropriate for only a subgroup of geographers to be intellec- Acknowledgements tually concerned with ethics, or does ethics pertain This work has been supported in part by National Science to all geographers? Foundation Grant No SBR-9600985. The author would like What kinds of values and moral issues loom large to extend appreciation to David M Smith for his generous in the major fields of contemporary geographical assistance during the preparation of this paper, and to research? How might geographers go about anonymous reviewers for comments on an earlier version addressing ethical problems in their substantive of the manuscript. work? 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