The humanisation of nature represents which of the following concept of man-environment relationship?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Possibilism
With better technology, people use the resources of nature in many new ways. Fields, cities, ports and roads then appear on the land, and nature gets humanised. This idea is possibilism.
Option (1) Possibilism — Correct. People move from a state of necessity to a state of freedom and create possibilities with the resources of the environment. Nature then starts bearing the imprints of human work.
Option (2) Determinism — Incorrect. Environmental determinism is the early stage, when technology was very low and humans obeyed the dictates of nature. It goes with the naturalisation of humans, the opposite idea.
Option (3) Neo-determinism — Incorrect. Griffith Taylor’s neo-determinism is the middle path (stop and go determinism): humans can conquer nature only by obeying its limits.
Option (4) Probablism — Incorrect. Humanisation of nature is the idea of possibilism, not of probabilism.
Note: A similar question was also asked in CUET (UG) 2023 on 10-06-2023 (Slot 2) and 08-06-2023 (Slot 3).
NCERT (2026-27): “The people begin to understand their environment and the forces of nature with the passage of time. With social and cultural development, humans develop better and more efficient technology. They move from a state of necessity to a state of freedom. They create possibilities with the resources obtained from the environment. The human activities create cultural landscape. The imprints of human activities are created everywhere; health resorts on highlands, huge urban sprawls, fields, orchards and pastures in plains and rolling hills, ports on the coasts, oceanic routes on the oceanic surface and satellites in the space. The earlier scholars termed this as possibilism. Nature provides opportunities and human being make use of these and slowly nature gets humanised and starts bearing the imprints of human endeavour.” |