Big history and philosophy. Philosophical foundations of big history: why big history makes sense

Abstract

The Greek cosmos was mainly a set of orderly bodies, which moved regularly, following cyclic patterns. Thus, for the Pythagoreans, harmonious (and eternal) geometrical proportions resounded in nature; for Parmenides, there was no true change in cosmos; for Leucippus and Democritus, atoms were everlasting and inalterable; for Plato, the physical world was a pale counterpart of eternal, perfect ideas; for Aristotle, heavenly bodies belonged to immutable spheres; etc. When applied to history, big seems both significant and ambiguous: on the one hand, it generates something different from “ordinary” history, but, at the same time, it leaves the field completely open. Big history, and all the little big histories, can be identified by its pluridisciplinary character. Big history requires bringing together findings and specialists from many different fields. Anyone can do big history, but no one can do good big history without some historical, biological, physical, chemical, artistic, technical, astronomical, geological, mathematical, etc.