What is the Role of Big History within the Ecosystem of Academic Disciplines?

A key feature of Big History is that it offers a universal framework within which different ways of describing and experiencing reality are actively considered, compared, and integrated into a coherent narrative. This framework helps highlight both incompatibilities and common themes in what is seen through different disciplinary lenses. The incompatibilities provide opportunities to expand and deepen our overall understanding, while the common themes help identify fundamental and universal principles. This paper builds on past discussions within the Big History community, to argue that we should emphasize and further articulate this integrating role of Big History within the academic ecosystem, as a complement to the specialization of traditional disciplines.