Synoptic subjects? The Scope and methods of philosophy, geography and anthropology

• Published in: Journal of historical geography Vol. 85; pp. 66 - 69
• Main Author: Hayes, Emily
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2024
• Subjects: Relativism; Scientific instruments; Spatio-temporalities; Speculation; Synoptic methods; Relativism; Synoptic methods; Speculation; Scientific instruments; Spatio-temporalities
• ISSN: 0305-7488
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhg.2024.03.007

This article identifies the recurring expression ‘scope and method/s’ in three published lectures by Henry Sidgwick, Halford Mackinder and James George Frazer between 1885 and 1921. It tracks transdisciplinary connections between the thought and practice of late nineteenth-century philosophy, economic science and geography, and early twentieth-century anthropology, thereby illuminating shifting perceptions, and applications, of historical geographical knowledge and imaginations in a broader speculative evolutionary epistemological scheme. At a time when science and humanities subjects were thought to be diverging, it shows that metaphorical uses of optical instruments helped draw synoptic spatio-temporal frames of reference which shaped transdisciplinary and trans-institutional practices. •Speculates about the metaphorical uses of optical instruments in satiotemoral frames of reference.•Presents a projected line of sight between Henry Sidgwick, Halford Mackinder and James George Frazer.•Suggests historical geographical conceptual frameworks were important to philosophy and political economy and anthropology.