While some commentators did indeed see a role for the sort of thinking that Big History represents, others were clearly skeptical of the Big History approach and, more generally, of the modern body of scientific thought in which it is embedded. [...] But no good scholarship can afford to do that, and, as one of the commentators has pointed out, the real goal must be to encourage the use of many different lenses—a sort of zooming in and out—as we desperately try to get on top of the many dilemmas that face us today. [...] But I think that, even as we look for new ways of thinking, we must be wary of simple dichotomies between modern scientific thought and traditional perspectives on the world because they cannot do justice to the extraordinary range and subtlety of human thought both today and in the past. [...] How can we best contribute to the building and dissemination of similar perspectives but at global scales? 2 | Big History and Great Transition | GTI FORUM One thing of which we can be sure is that these perspectives will be new, because so many of the problems we face are unprecedented. [...] 3 | Big History and Great Transition | GTI FORUM About the Author David Christian is Professor of History and Director of the Big History Institute at Macquarie University in Sydney.
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- 4
- Published in
- United States of America
