The beliefs upon which we rest the objectives of our study from our philosophy, our own individual view of life and living. It is convenient, therefore, to designate the manifestation of these beliefs in geographical work as the philosophy of geography. There are many such philosophies. Each provides us with a distinctive view of the nature of geography. Such philosophies vary from country to country, from group to group, and over time. There are those who have regarded these varied philosophies as faint manifestations of some hidden pervasive attitude in man that forms the essence of geography. Substantive geographical work is thus viewed as some shadowy representation of the essential geography, in rather the same way that Plato regarded perceptual experience as some kind of shadowy representation of the ‘essences’ that lay beyond. It is not my purpose, however, to discuss the varied philosophies of geography or to examine how they might be synthesized. The essential point for our present purpose is to demonstrate that such philosophies are dependent upon beliefs, and that although we may analyse them to make certain of their consistency and coherence, we cannot analyse away their very foundations.