An interpretation of the impact of regional science in terms of philosophy of science

This article evaluates the performance of regional science from the perspective of the philosophy of science. The debate regarding the field's performance has drawn wide interest among those working in regional science and has been a stimulus to consider and reinterpret a number of approaches in the philosophy of science. It is believed that an evaluation and reinterpretation of the major approaches in the philosophy of science, such as the positivist, humanistic and structuralist outlooks, could be useful in helping make an ultimate evaluation of the recent literature regarding regional science. In this article, a comparison is made between those paradigms within the development processes that are relevant to regional science and with respect to differentiation between less developed countries (LDC) and developed countries. It is concluded that despite the considerable achievements that have occurred in regional science from the 1950s up to the present some significant questions in the field suggest requirements for a paradigm change, particularly for a field of knowledge that can be applied to developing areas.