An outsider, blissfully ignorant of the preoccupations of academic geography, would likely express both surprise and amusement when apprised of the tortured explanations given by advocates of the discipline in its justification. In the first place, he or she would be bemused by the patent lack of agreement among the defenders of the discipline as to what it actually entails. Surely, the curious seeker after truth asks, there can be no mystery about the purpose of a subject that is elaborately defined in every dictionary of repute.