2 society would be a free, anarchic society [an - without, archos - ruler], a society in which each individual is responsible for the relationship between himself and the society. By inner persuasion, we must live by making the maximum contri­ bution of our physical and mental assets combined with minimal charge against and exploitation of the society. We must contribute to society as much as possible because, directly and indirectly, we enjoy the contributions of the global society in which we live and of which we are a part.To achieve this goal, we must know not only ourselves but also the society in which we live. A society is not uniform. It is composed of mosaics of people of varying characteristics, structured in different patterns and groups, the qUalities of which we must know because upon them depends our own place in the society. Were the world uniform of feature and society, there would no place for regional geography. But because the world varies in form and its societies are different, study of the differentiation of the world's surface and the regional geography as the people who live on it is an important tool for understanding the society in which we live, particularly when our goal is to live with it in harmony.

Inhalt

Introduction: The State of the Art.- Geography, as life itself, is built on dichotomies.- Geography - art or science?.- Objectivity and subjectivity in geographical research.- Use and misuse of geography.- The systems approach as a way of thinking in regional geography.- one: Concepts of Regional Thought in Geography.- The dawn of regional thought.- The new world.- The years 1859-1953: regional geography at its perigee.- two: The 'Quantitative Revolution': Regional Geography at Its Apogee.- Positivistic approaches and topical studies.- Theories contributed by the quantitative revolution.- Appreciation and criticism of the 'quantitative revolution'.- Pluralism: 'dernier cri' or 'cul-de-sac'?.- Regional Sciences and Landscape Analysis.- three: Regions, Zones, Boundaries.- Concepts of region.- Defmitions and types of regions and zones.- Homogeneous and nodal regions.- Definitions of boundaries and limits.- Region and literature.- four: Region as a System.- Basical remarks on the systems approach.- Systems approach in geography.- Systems approach in regional geography.- five: Towards a Model of The Region as an Open System.- The model of Ritter and Hettner.- The 'central problem' model.- The model of systemic region.- Application of the model: the Region of Bet Shean, Israel.- Application of the region model to a single-feature region.- six: The Philosophy Beyond the Regional Model.- Geography, positivism and phenomenology.- Dialectical reasoning as the basis for the concept of systemic region.- seven: Methods in Regional Geography.- Air photos.- Analysis of maps.- Delimitations of boundaries.- Dealing with variables.- Distribution of variables.- Topology.- Comparison.- Comparative regional geography.- Case study.- eight: Contribution of Regional Geography to Society.- Application of regional geography in planning.- Regionalization, regionalism and regional development.- Freedom and geographical acting.- Conclusion: Commitments and Future of Systemic Regional Geography.