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Big History is an emerging academic discipline which examines history from the Big Bang to the present. It examines long time frames using a multidisciplinary approach based on combining numerous disciplines from science and the humanities,〔〔〔 and explores human existence in the context of this bigger picture. It integrates studies of the cosmos, Earth, life, and humanity using empirical evidence to explore cause-and-effect relations,〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=International Big History Association )〕 and is taught at universities〔 and secondary schools〔 often using web-based interactive presentations.〔 It is an academic movement spearheaded by historian David Christian of Australia's Macquarie University, who coined the term "Big History", and is made of an "unusual coalition of scholars". An early example of teaching big history is found in John F. Kennedy's famous speech at Rice University where he explains 50,000 years of human history condensed into half a century.〔(JFK speech at Rice (video) )〕 Some historians have expressed skepticism towards "scientific history" and argue that the claims of Big History are unoriginal.〔 ==Comparison with conventional history== Big History examines the past using numerous time scales, from the Big Bang to modernity,〔 unlike conventional history courses which typically begin with the introduction of farming and civilization,〔 or with the beginning of written records. It explores common themes and patterns. Courses generally do not focus on humans until more than halfway through,〔 and, unlike conventional history courses, there is not much focus on kingdoms or civilizations or wars or national borders.〔 If conventional history focuses on human civilization with humankind at the center, Big History focuses on the universe and shows how humankind fits within this framework〔 and places human history in the wider context of the universe's history.〔''Interdisciplinary Science Reviews'', 2008, Vol. 33, No. 2 © 2008 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. Published by Maney〕 Unlike conventional history, Big History tends to go rapidly through detailed historical eras such as the Renaissance or Ancient Egypt. It draws on the latest findings from biology,〔 astronomy,〔 geology,〔 climatology, prehistory, archaeology, anthropology, evolutionary biology, economics,〔 cosmology,〔 natural history, and population and environmental studies as well as standard history.〔 One teacher explained: Big History arose from a desire to go beyond the specialized and self-contained fields that emerged in the 20th century. It tries to grasp history as a whole, looking for common themes across multiple time scales in history. Conventional history typically begins with the invention of writing, and is limited to past events relating directly to the human race. Big Historians point out that this limits study to the past 5,000 years and neglects the much longer time when humans existed on Earth. Henry Kannberg sees Big History as being a product of the Information Age, a stage in history itself following speech, writing, and printing. Big History covers the formation of the universe, stars, and galaxies, and includes the beginning of life as well as the period of several hundred thousand years when humans were hunter-gatherers. It sees the transition to civilization as a gradual one, with many causes and effects, rather than an abrupt transformation from uncivilized static cavemen to dynamic civilized farmers.〔 An account in ''The Boston Globe'' describes the conventional history view: Big History, in contrast to conventional history, has more of an interdisciplinary basis.〔 Advocates sometimes view conventional history as "microhistory" or "shallow history", and note that three-quarters of historians specialize in understanding the last 250 years while ignoring the "long march of human existence."〔 However, one historian disputed that the discipline of history has overlooked the big view, and described the "grand narrative" of Big History as a "cliché that gets thrown around a lot."〔 One account suggested that conventional history had the "sense of grinding the nuts into an ever finer powder." It emphasizes long-term trends and processes rather than history-making individuals or events.〔 Historian Dipesh Chakrabarty of the University of Chicago suggested that Big History was less politicized than contemporary history because it enables people to "take a step back."〔 It uses more kinds of evidence than the standard historical written records, such as fossils, tools, household items, pictures, structures, ecological changes and genetic variations.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「big history」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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