Does Possibilism Reject Environmental Determinism?

💡 The Answer

• Possibilism in cultural geography argues environment sets constraints but does not determine culture.
• It directly opposes environmental determinism, which claims physical environment dictates human actions.
• Instead, culture is shaped by social conditions within environmental limits.
• Strabo in 64 BC warned against assuming nature determines human behavior.
• Marshall Sahlins used possibilism to challenge the then-dominant environmental determinism in ecology.