Una questione pratica: il paesaggio e l'identità della geografia

This article aims at focusing on the way in which the geographical conception of landscape has outlined the conception of man. Between human geography of the sixties and contemporary cultural geography, man’s identity, with regard to landscape, has been strictly linked to the notions of action and practice. Such a description of man leads back to the origins of the geographical conception of landscape, that is to Erdkunder’s texts, on which – as claimed here – Aristotle’s ethical philosophy exerted much influence, even through Strabo’s works. On the basis of these considerations, this article argues that geographical science has developed, over several stages of its history, a peculiar practical reason. Such a practical reason can still represent a feature distinguishing the identity of contemporary geography in comparison with the other human sciences, such as semiotics, speaking of the relationship between man and landscape in terms of practices and subjectivity.