#76 David Christian: Big History, and the Unity of Knowledge

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Dr. David Christian is Professor at the Department of Modern History, Politics and International Relations at Macquarie University. He is notable for teaching and promoting the discipline of Big History. He is credited with coining the term Big History and he serves as president of the International Big History Association. He’s the author of several books, including Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History, and the recently published Origin Story: A Big History of Everything. 

In this episode, we focus on Big History. Topics include: the methodological differences between Big History and traditional History; new views on the human condition and the meaning of life; the impact agriculture had on human life; how to look at progress; predictions about the future; and how Big History can contribute to establish a common ground for the sciences and the humanities.

Time Links:

00:46 What is Big History?   

03:17 The methodological differences between Big History and traditional History 

05:37 The place of humans in the Universe

09:35 Human existence and the meaning of life 

13:44 Can History become scientific?  

16:51 The place for evolutionary psychology in Big History   

27:38 The advent of agriculture, and its impact

33:18 If we lead ourselves to extinction, is this progress?

36:46 It’s much easier to predict cosmological rather than human events

39:55 What common threads can we use to connect all the sciences?

45:04 Can Big History help to establish bridges between the sciences?

48:14 How to reconcile the sciences and the humanities?

51:57 The problem with the lack of paradigms in the humanities

55:14 Follow Dr. Christian’s work

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Follow Dr. Christian’s work:

Big History Project: https://www.bighistoryproject.com/home

Big History Institute: https://www.mq.edu.au/bighistory

Big History on The Great Courses: https://tinyurl.com/y8lq5e2v

Books: https://tinyurl.com/ycwvqwqc

Twitter handle: @davidgchristian

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