Maps have been important elements of visual representation in the development of different societies, and for this reason they have mainly been considered from a practical and utilitarian point of view. This means that cartographers or mapmakers have largely focused on the technical aspects of the cartographic products, and cartography has given little attention to both its theoretical component and to its philosophical and epistemological aspects. The current study is dedicated to consider these views.rnIn this study the main trends, thoughts and different directions in cartography during positivism/empiricism, neo-positivism and post-structuralism are reviewed; and cartography is analysed under the modernism and post-modernism periods. Some of the arguments proposed by philosophers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper are examined as important contributions in our understanding of the development of cartography and mapping. This study also incorporates the idea or concept of paradigm, which has been taken from the field of the epistemology of sciences. The aforementioned opens a space to analyse cartography in terms of a paradigm shift.rnIn the analysis of each trend within contemporary cartography – from the second half of the twentieth century until today – it is necessary to keep in mind the theoretical scheme of a scientific discipline (object of study, research aims, methods and approaches, and results). This helps determine the body of knowledge in cartography. It is also important to consider the epistemological context in which the tendencies are developed: positivism/empiricism, realism/structuralism and idealism/hermeneutic.rnIn this way, by considering three epistemological levels: essentialist/ontical (scientific), deconstructive (sociological), and ontological (emergent), some paradigmatic tendencies are postulated. The first level results in tendencies such as cartographic communication, cartographic semiotics, analytical cartography and cartographic visualisation- all of these belong to the scientific-empirical perspective. In the second level, we have critical cartography, which belongs to the critical perspective and that confronts the scientific stances. Finally, in the third level the so-called post-representational cartography arises in open opposition to the traditional representational cartography.